November 21, 2002, Filipino Reporter, Abu Sayyaf bomb expert nabbed,

November 21, 2002, Filipino Reporter, Abu Sayyaf bomb expert nabbed,

A suspected leader of the Abu Sayyaf, who reportedly planned a series of bombings in Metro Manila, including the Tektite towers and SM Megamall, has been arrested.

Abdulmukim Edris was presented by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Benjamin Defensor to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Defensor said Edris was captured by the intelligence units of the Philippine Air Force's (PAF) 300th Air security group, the AFP, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Intelligence Coordinating
Agency (NICA).

He said Edris was about to board a jeep to Taguig Tuesday afternoon at the Bonifacio Interchange in Pasay City when he was apprehended.

Edris is said to have headed the Abu Sayyaf's urban special operations and explosives team.

Also known as Ryan/Alex/Hamil Hamja Ajilul, Edris has a PI million price on his head.

He was caught on the strength of 12 arrest warrants issued by the Basilan Regional Trial Court (RTC) for crimes ranging from kidnapping, serious illegal detention to multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder.

Police intelligence agents said Edris admitted to have cased and prepared plans to bomb several shopping malls, the U.S. Embassy, and several commercial buildings.

The plan was supposed to be carried out this month through a "truck bomb" loaded with several drums of ammonium nitrate and remotely activated with a cellular phone.

Authorities said Edris was one of the emissaries sent by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the second week of July last to meet Al-Qaeda operatives and seek financial assistance and technical expertise to mount terror attacks.

It was also disclosed that three weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., two Yemeni nationals believed connected with the Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah cells in Southeast Asia, sneaked into Basilan.

They conducted a month-long special explosives training for selected ASG members.

Police said Edris learned how to prepare and assemble a car bomb that could be activated with either a cell phone or a digital clock.

After the training, ASG leader Khadaffy Janjalani announced over a local radio station that henceforth, the Abu Sayyaf would be known as Al Harakatul Al Islamiyah (the Islamic movement).

Janjalani also elevated ASG's struggle as a radical religious struggle or Islamic Jihad.

Janjalani later called upon all Muslim faithful to launch attacks against the U.S. and other foreign interests.

In the weeks that followed, Zamboanga City and Metro Manila were rocked by several bombings.

Edris and a certain Abbas were pinpointed by witnesses as having prepared the explosive devices.

Edris was suspected to have been involved in a series of terror activities, including the Oct. 28 attack on the Puericulture Food Court center in Zamboanga City; the Oct. 20 bombing of the Shop-O Rama shopping mall; the Glorietta and SM Megamall bombings in May 1999; the Lamitan, Basilan siege; the murder of a Marine trooper and his wife; the murder of a barangay leader also in Lamitan, and theft of several motorcycles.