Government moves to crush funding, arms network for MILF rebels

The government has stepped up efforts to uncover and dismantle the network that provides funding and weapons to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), according to local intelligence officials.

"We are working on tracing the entire network so that we can preempt more weapons from reaching the hands of the MILF," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Despite their seeming reluctance, the MILF wants the talks to continue so that they can use any ceasefire and troop pullout to consolidate, strengthen (their ranks) and receive more funding," the intelligence official said.

Based on information provided by foreign intelligence agencies, the network includes a number of front organizations, private companies and even charity institutions in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea and Singapore, the official said. He did not elaborate.

Some foreign intelligence agencies have been helping them trace and stop the flow of money and weapons, they added.

For instance, Singapore’s intelligence agency is closely monitoring an unidentified Singaporean company after it bought huge quantities of rifles and ammunition.

The firm, which is engaged in a business totally unrelated to weapons, reportedly planned or had already smuggled weapons to the MILF in the past.

In 1999 the rebels bought various weapons — including surface-to-air missiles, which can prove lethal to military aircraft — worth nearly $2 million from a North Korean diplomat in Kuala Lumpur but apparently has not yet received its order in full, the officials said.

The MILF had also bought at least 1,000 AK-47 Kalashnikov automatic rifles, millions of ammunition as well rocket-propelled grenades that can be devastating against armored vehicles.

The deal also included training on radio communications, gathering intelligence and bomb-making, the officials said.

On Sept. 25, 1999, MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar issued a check to the diplomat, identified as Rim Kyu Do, worth $400,000 as partial payment for the weapons.

He also issued another check worth $600,000 postdated Oct. 15. The MILF also paid a freight charge of $300,000 for shipping the weapons that would be passed off as tractor parts, batteries and amplifiers.

The intelligence official said the downpayment was made two weeks after the government and rebel negotiators met in Maguindanao province and agreed to resume formal peace talks in Malaysia on Oct. 25 — ten days after the diplomat had cashed the second check representing the second downpayment for the weapons.

It was an indication that the MILF was not sincere in the negotiations, the official said, adding the rebel group often took advantage of ceasefires in the past to buy weapons and beef up its forces.

The 12,500-member MILF has been waging a decades-old guerrilla campaign to set up an Islamic state in Mindanao.

The government hopes that the country’s anti-money laundering law, which was passed in 2000 and amended last March, will be effective in stopping the flow of illegal funds.

Praising the amendments, the United States had said the law would be "an important tool" in the war against terrorism.

Authorities suspect the MILF and an Indonesia-based militant group allegedly allied with al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiya, were involved in two recent bomb attacks in Davao City.

Thirty-eight people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the March 4 bombing at the Davao international airport and the April 2 blast at the Sasa wharf. The MILF denied any involvement.