November 14, 2002, AP Worldstream, Philippine police investigating shipment of chemicals that could be used to make explosives, by Teresa Cerojano,

Dateline: MANILA, Philippines Philippine police are investigating a large shipment of chemicals that could be used to make explosives amid fears of terrorist bombings, a senior officer said Thursday.

Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, head of the national police Civil Security Group, said the investigation is focused on an "unidentified Arab national" who reportedly was interested in pursuing a claim over the cargo before discontinuing the transaction.

The shipment consisted of 20 bags of sodium nitrate and 30 large plastic containers of what initial tests showed were different types of acids.

He said the cargo came in six steel containers that arrived from Saudi Arabia five days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. It has been held in a Customs warehouse for more than a year because it was not covered by any importation papers, he said.

"It was abandoned last year," Berroya said. "Then last month they started to work on the papers to re-export. We conducted an investigation. It appears now that the chemicals we found, which we had tested in crime laboratory, were explosive ingredients."

Berroya said "Thailand is key to the investigation" because it was to be the shipment's next destination until the Customs bureau refused to release it.

Some Western nations have warned that terrorists may target Thailand and have advised their nationals to take extra precaution there.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said "it's just a theory" that the chemicals, about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), were targeted for bombs. The chemicals also have industrial uses.

"We will investigate who imported these and for what purpose. Only then can we make a conclusion," he said.

The cargo was shipped by Norwegian Ingvar Bjorland of the Saudi-based Mohammad Al Mojil Group, which Berroya said is associated with the Saudi Bin Ladin Group of Companies.

The Philippine consignee, Everclean Chemicals Technology Philippines Inc., of which Bjorland is an incorporator, is said to be engaged in chemical and wastewater cleaning, treatment and recycling. The company, however, has no record of business transactions in the Philippines or abroad, Berroya said.

Interpol in Oslo reported that Bjorland had been convicted of minor offenses in Norway and committed suicide in Thailand on Sept. 28. There were no details about the suicide.

Philippine investigators found among Bjorland's personal belongings a business card of Mohammad Ahmad Al-Khalifa, who was identified by Berroya as a member of the "Hezbollah infrastructure in Scandinavia."

The police and military have been on heightened alert following a series of bomb attacks last month that killed 14 people and injured more than 200 others in the southern Philippines and Manila.

On Thursday, the military announced the arrest of the top suspect in the southern Philippine bombings, Abdulmukim Edris, allegedly the head of an explosives team of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group.