JAKARTA, Indonesia — Philippine authorities said Thursday that they had arrested two international terror suspects, a Jordanian and an Indonesian, who were allegedly involved in financing operations for the Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah terror networks.
Officials identified the Jordanian as Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 36, a suspected Al Qaeda operative and close associate of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, Mohammed Khalifa, who spread Bin Laden's influence in the southern Philippines during the 1990s.
At the time of Abdeljalil's arrest, authorities said, he was attempting to sell property that Khalifa had acquired in the Philippines. Officials said the attempted land sales were a sign that Al Qaeda and its Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah, were feeling the pressure of financial sanctions and trying to raise money for their operations.
"This shows that the Al Qaeda-Jemaah Islamiah flow of funds is drying up or is shut off by the vigilant pursuit of international agencies," said Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo, whose agents arrested Abdeljalil. "That is why they have to resort to selling off real estate, which exposes them to the risk of identification and arrest."
The second suspect arrested was identified as Taufek Refke, an Indonesian who is alleged to have been Jemaah Islamiah's No. 2 leader in the Philippines.
In a ritual that Philippine authorities often conduct for major arrests, Refke was paraded before the media and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Manila on Thursday.
"We have exposed a large cell of the Jemaah Islamiah," Arroyo told reporters as Refke, 23, stood behind her in handcuffs. "The terrorists are falling one by one. This reduces the weight of terrorist threat across the broad range of targets in our country and across Southeast Asia."
It is unclear whether the arrests of Refke and Abdeljalil are connected or whether the two men knew each other. Abdeljalil, who has two Philippine wives, was arrested Sept. 25. Refke was arrested Oct. 2.
Authorities say Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah work closely together. Many Jemaah Islamiah operatives received military training at Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. There appears to be some overlapping membership, and the groups have carried out joint operations. Al Qaeda reportedly helped finance two major terror attacks carried out by Jemaah Islamiah in Indonesia, the Bali bombings that killed 202 people on Oct. 12, 2002, and the JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta that killed 12 on Aug. 5, 2003.
