CIA whisks away Brit-Am blast victim; now in US

DAVAO CITY — The efforts of government prosecutors here to go after a British-American national who was the victim of a hotel blast on May 16 could very well prove futile as the US Central Intelligence Agency has already taken him in custody in California.

Highly reliable sources told The STAR Michael Terrence Meiring, 65, reportedly was deployed by the CIA, sometime in the early up to the mid ’90s, on assignment here in Southern Mindanao. But he allegedly chose to keep coming back to the country in an effort to earn more money from his earlier transactions as part of his assignment.

"He overshot his mandate. That was why the American had to find a way that he could be spirited out of the country fast because the CIA has to also take hold of him," the same source said.

Meiring lost his left leg and suffered severe burns in various parts of his body when an explosive went off inside his room at the Evergreen Hotel here May 16. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents from the US Embassy in Manila reportedly sneaked him out of a Davao City hospital four days after the explosion and was brought to the Makati Medical Center for treatment.

Local officials here, including the police and the city prosecutors, have demanded that Meiring be brought back to Davao City to answer the charges of illegal possession of explosives as well as the possible filing of the non-bailable offense of destructive arson.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was particularly irked by the way the American embassy facilitated Meiring’s transfer to the Makati Medical Center which he described as arrogant and without due respect to local officials concerned. "Meiring is now in California and the CIA has taken hold of him already," the same source said.