Police seize 300 kg of bomb ingredientsDec 22
Philippine Daily InquirerPAGADIAN CITY- Maritime police authorities seized several bags of ammonium nitrate aboard a ship from Jolo that docked here early morning Tuesday.
The 12 bags of fertilizer, which is also a main component in bomb-making, was misdeclared as dried fish.
The confiscation came in the wake of a heightened alert over reports of planned attacks by terrorists in Mindanao.
...
Police and military authorities in Mindanao have been on heightened alert following the Dec. 12 explosion that killed 15 people and wounded several others in a public market in General Santos City.
http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=21975A story posted yesterday:
Philippine DOJ seeks probe of US nationals implicated in Davao bombing By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 12/22/2004 The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the United States to locate its two nationals — Michael Meiring and his friend, Stephen Hughes — and conduct an investigation into their alleged participation in the bombing of a hotel in Davao City on May 16, 2002.
In his letter to US Ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez noted that Meiring was reported to be living in Houston, Texas while Hughes was said to be a teacher at the North Surry High School in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
"Since both are US citizens and wanted by the Philippine authorities in connection with the bombing of the Evergreen Hotel in Davao City, which clearly appears to be an act of terrorism, I am certain the US government will not tolerate this terrorist act," Gonzalez said. The DOJ chief sought the support of the US, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, to track down Meiring and Hughes.
...
Gonzalez was furnished a copy of an investigation report on Meiring made by 11 News, a media organization in Texas, that said the suspected terrorist had been in Houston.
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200412229902.htm I wrote about Meiring on my blog in October:
Meiring is an American national and self-described "fortune hunter," who was seriously injured May 16, 2002 in an explosion in his Davao City hotel room on the Phillippine island of Mindanao. Screaming in pain, his legs mangled, Meiring told police someone had lobbed a grenade through his window. Actually, the explosion had originated inside a metal box with which Meiring had checked in.
Just three days later, an FBI team arrived at his hospital room and spirited him stateside before the matter could be investigated, despite arrest warrants, an order that he not leave the country, and "without the knowledge of any police, military or government official in the city or region," in the words of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who called Meiring's FBI-aided flight an "affront to Philippine sovereignty."
From The Minda News excellent three-part series on the Meiring mystery:
The circumstances behind Meiring’s sudden departure from the hospital, inspite of his serious condition, raised questions about his real identity. A number of officials in ‘for background only’ interviews, speculated Meiring may have been an agent of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Meiring himself, according to those who had spent some time with him, refered to himself as CIA although he would qualify that to mean “Christ In Action.”
Four months after the incident, Davao City Prosecutor Raul Bendico announced that findings from the investigation of the case indicated that the accident occurred when Meiring was attempting to set up explosives intended to blow up the Evergreen Hotel.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1090380
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