AFP: JI leader Omar Patek nabbed in Pakistan

A senior leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group who stayed in southern Philippines for several years has been arrested in Pakistan early this year. Omar Patek, who allegedly took part in 2002’s deadly Bali bombing, was believed to have trained Abu Sayyaf members in bomb-making, according to Philippine military officials. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos said Patek was arrested last Jan. 25. “It (information) was relayed to us by the Pakistani government," he said. AFP deputy chief of staff for intelligence Maj. Gen. Francisco Cruz said the arrest of Patek “is a big low to the Jemaah Islamiyah and of course to the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) because they have tactical alliance." “The whole region now breathes a sigh of relief with the arrest," Cruz added. The United States has offered a $1 million-reward for information that would lead to Patek's arrest. Burgos said Patek, whose true name is Anis Alawi Jaffar, was arrested with a Pakistani associate who was believed to be harboring him. Patek and another JI member, Dulmatin, fled to Mindanao after the 2002 Bali bombings. Burgos said the 40-year-old Patek “imparted his skills with the Abu Sayyaf Group members in using improvised explosive device while hiding here in the Philippines after the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia." A military anti-terrorist expert, AFP Western Command chief Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, said Patek was the finance officer and the link to JI and Al-Qaeda leadership. Sabban headed the military’s Task Force Comet that pursued Patek and Dulmatin in Sulu a few years ago. The military earlier reported that Dulmatin died in 2008 following a clash with government forces in Tawi-tawi. However, officials later said that Dulmatin is still alive after results of the tests conducted on tissue samples on the body that was believed to be Dulmatin's were found inconclusive. “After the death of Parad, he (Patek) was rarely monitored," said Sabban, referring to Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad, who was killed by Marine soldiers in Maimbung, Sulu, in February last year. - KBK, GMA News