Rizal Day 2000 blasts suspect linked to Davao bombing

The suspected mastermind in the Rizal Day 2000 bombings in Metro Manila has been linked to the Davao City bombing and is an Afghanistan-trained bomb and demolition expert.

Yunos Moclis, a Maranao tribesman, is said to be in his early 40s and allegedly has direct links with the Muslim fundamentalist terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. JI is believed to be the Southeast Asian chapter of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.

Sources from the intelligence community said Moclis is one of the leaders of the special operations group (SOG) of the Bangsamoro Islamic Security Force under Alim Mimbantas, a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) executive committee.

Moclis, the intelligence sources said, was one of the young Muslim converts recruited in the early 1990s who were sent to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Afghans in the resistance to invading troops from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

While in Afghanistan, Moclis met Fathur Al-Ghozi, an Indonesian who was arrested last year in General Santos City on charges of illegal possession and concealment of two tons of explosives. Moclis and Al-Ghozi reportedly became close friends.

Al-Ghozi, after a brief trial, admitted that he was a JI member.

After years of fighting and training in Afghanistan, Moclis returned to Mindanao and joined the MILF. For the knowledge he acquired in Afghanistan, Moclis was tasked to be a trainer at the MILF’s Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao province.

Sources from the intelligence community said while Moclis was with the Bangsamoro Islamic Security Force, he recruited many members — called "Muslim converts" — and trained them in special operations, bomb-making and demolition operations.

Moclis and Al-Ghozi met again when, as part of JI’s expansion of its activities, Al Ghozi was sent to Mindanao. His entry into the southern Philippines had been facilitated by Moclis.

While in Mindanao, Moclis and Al-Ghozi reportedly engaged in both covert and overt operations: Recruiting new members and training them for special operations.

By the middle of 2002, Moclis was reportedly convinced by the government peace panel to lay down his group’s arms and surrender. For unknown reasons, Moclis backed out at the last minute.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) earlier said Moclis had been spotted in Mindanao, "near Cotabato City."

Moclis is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Manila judge in connection with the Dec. 30, 2000 bombings that hit the Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Blumentritt and Plaza Ferguson in Manila, a bus in Cubao Quezon City, an abandoned gasoline station in Makati City and a warehouse at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport compound. The near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 22 people and wounded nearly a hundred others.

Law enforcement authorities have already asked the courts to update the warrant for Moclis’ arrest in order to ensure an airtight case against him.

The arrest order was issued against Moclis in 2001, shortly after police and military officers arrested the first batch of suspects in a series of follow-up operations in different parts of the country.

Under the rules, the court should be informed of any development after the issuance of a warrant.

Cotabato, the source said, is one of the areas in Mindanao reportedly being targeted by terrorists who may have carried out the bombing of the Davao International Airport that killed at least 21 people and injured some 150 others.

In 2001, NBI charged several personalities for the Rizal Day bombing, including Al-Ghozi, who confessed to helping finance the attack on the LRT, Blumentritt station.

The NBI also filed charges against Moclis and one Jimmy Arinday, also implicated in the LRT bombing.