Israeli guns, Georgian crew, British captain, Islamic 'terrorists' and what else?

[Magda Hassan]

Interesting happenings in the Phillipines. Parallels with Mumbai.


Manhunt on for ex-captain of ship with smuggled guns

[/url] Philstar.com - Monday, August 24


CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) here said it has alerted ports throughout the country for a British national who mysteriously abandoned a Panamanian ship that was caught last Friday with 14 crates containing high-powered firearms off the coast of Mariveles in Bataan.
BI-Clark director Heranio Manalo said Briton Bruce Jones has been placed in the hold departure list following the seizure of the firearms and the arrest, upon the orders of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, of a South African, John Lawrence Burne, and his crew of 13 Georgian nationals aboard the Panamanian ship M/V Captain Ufuk.
Manalo said the crewmen of M/V Captain Ufuk, which entered the Philippines on Aug. 19, had no “seaman’s visas.”
Manalo said Jones was reported to be the ship’s captain but abandoned the vessel off Mariveles and replaced by Burne last Aug. 19.
Burne entered the country on Aug. 15 via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and was admitted as a tourist only, he said.
Burne told immigration probers that he boarded a hotel vehicle on Aug. 19 and went straight to the Marina Yacht Club at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, where he took a yacht and proceeded to the M/V Captain Ufuk to replace Jones as captain.
The 2,400-ton Panamanian-registered ship yielded 14 crates of high-powered firearms.
Libanan has ordered a manhunt for Jones, who was also placed in the BI watchlist to prevent him from leaving the country, Manalo said.
Manalo said Burne and the 13 Georgian nationals, who the BI categorized as “restricted nationals,” were brought to the Immigration Detention Center at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while deportation cases were being readied against them.
Manalo said they entered Philippine territorial waters without notifying the BI, Bureau of Customs and quarantine authorities, as part of standard procedures for incoming vessels.
Manalo identified the 13 Georgian nationals as Verdzadze Shalva, chief officer; Bejanidze Gocha, second officer; Shavishvili George, third officer; Lortkipphanidze Eduard, chief engineer; Malakmadze Tamaz, second engineer; Lortkiphanidze Temur, third engineer; Malakmadze Albert, boson; Bakhtadze Rodam, A/B; Diasamidze Gia, A/B; Makaradze Gia, A/B; Mskhaladze Damir, oiler; Pogosyan Valentin, oiler; and Makharadze Temuri, cook.
Manalo said the M/V Captain Ufuk came from Jakarta, Indonesia, its last port of call in Asia.
It came all the way from Turkey, Georgia, Gibraltar, Ghana, Cape Town in South Africa and Penang before proceeding to Jakarta and the Philippines.
Philippine authorities became suspicious after the vessel anchored at a close distance from the Port of Mariveles.
Libanan has also ordered all international seaports, airports and border-crossing stations to tighten the monitoring of arriving and departing foreigners to protect the country from terrorists.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is looking for the yacht that Jones boarded when he left the M/V Captain Ufuk.
PCG commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said they have information that some wooden crates from the ship, believed also containing firearms, were allegedly loaded on the yacht. – With Helen Flores - By Ding Cervantes (Philstar News Service, http://www.philstar.com)

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/star/20090824/t...94a93.html



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Georgian citizens supply Islamists with weapons
13:43 / 08/21/2009


The Philippine police arrested a Panamanian vessel transporting five boxes of Gagil rifles produced in Israel. The walla.co.il. portal reports the crew was formed of Georgian citizens.
According to accompanying documents, the dry-cargo ship, that entered the port ofMariveles for unclear reasons, left a Turkish port for the Philippine port of Batangas.
The authorities believe the Israeli weapons were intended for the Islamistinsurgents of Philippines. The Government has been warring against them for over ten years.


http://news.am/en/news/2878.html
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Ministry Investigating Pindad Management After Weapons Seizure

The State Minister for State Enterprises, Sofyan Djalil, said the ministry is investigating the management of PT Pindad, the state-owned military equipment manufacturer, regarding the recent seizure by Philippine customs officers of a cargo vessel carrying firearms manufactured in Indonesia.

“An investigation is necessary to make sure that there is no mismanagement in weapons transactions,” Sofyan told Antara at his office on Monday.

Sofyan stated that weapon circulation in Indonesia is tightly controlled by the government.

“An in-depth investigation is called for to know whether exports are carried out legally or not,” he added.

Pindad, which is one of the Strategic State Enterprises, has been under the spotlight after the Panama-registered Captain Ufuk vessel was detained nearly two weeks ago outside Manila.

Authorities initially said the seized weapons were from Israel.

The British captain of the vessel, Bruce Jones, told authorities that the weapons, worth 100 million Philippine pesos ($2.04 million), were from Indonesia and acquired from Pindad, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper.

Timbul Sitompul, a Pindad spokesman, said the shipment had been cleared out of Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port. The pistols were being purchased by a shooting club in the Philippines, he said.

The 100 rifles were bound for the Republic of Mali’s Ministry of Internal Security and Civil Protection, but under the contract, Pindad was assigned to only deliver them to the Captain Ufuk.
Antara/JG
http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/ministry...ure/327106


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And a History of False flag operatons and here is one operator.


Bombshell conspiracies in the Philippines
By Shawn W Crispin and Joel D Adriano

MANILA - A spate of deadly bombings has rocked stability in the Philippines, setting off conspiracy theories about whether Muslim rebels, internationally linked terrorists or President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government are behind the mysterious attacks.

No group has taken responsibility for the fatal blasts. Nonetheless, security forces have been put on heightened alert across the archipelago, raising fears that Arroyo may soon declare martial law or a state of emergency to defuse the crisis, a move that would potentially extend her hold on power beyond her legally circumscribed six-year term.

Bombings last week in Cotabato City, Iligan and Jolo, all on the southern island of Mindanao, killed 12 people and wounded nearly




100 more. In the previous weeks, a bomb exploded at the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila and plots against other government offices, including the Department of Agriculture, and a private condominium in the capital, were foiled by sleuthing security forces, according to a government source.

Government officials have offered conflicting explanations for the bombs. The military was quick to pin blame to the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which it has battled since a peace-for-autonomy deal came unraveled last August. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Victor Ibrado hinted that the bombings may have been "test missions" carried out by rebels who had recently completed bomb-making training.

The AFP says that the MILF have staged 38 bomb attacks this year and that bomb fragments recovered from some of last week's attack sites bore the hallmarks of previous MILF attacks. Task Force Comet head Major General Juancho Sabban claimed that regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had recently trained both MILF and the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terror group in bomb-making techniques, insinuating one or the either was responsible for the recent attacks.

However, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales asserted that the Manila attacks were carried out by a different group with different motives and were likely unrelated to the Mindanao bombings. He called on the military not to reflexively blame the MILF without substantiating evidence and worried that the accusations would stall the resumption of peace talks. Gonzales insisted that the bombings would not compel Arroyo to declare a state of emergency.

MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu denied any involvement, saying that his secessionist group had nothing to gain from killing civilians and terrorizing their own communities. He countered the accusations against his group by noting that the military had the greater capability to detonate such explosives. Others, including former top government officials, have pointed more directly at Arroyo and her political allies.

Former House speaker Jose de Venecia has claimed publicly that the bombs are part of a broad destabilizing plot to justify the declaration of martial law and suspension of democracy, including potentially democratic polls scheduled for next year in which Arroyo is barred by constitutional term limits from seeking re-election.

A former Arroyo ally, de Venecia claimed such a plot was earlier discussed by administration insiders and he likened the bombings to the instability former dictator Ferdinand Marcos manufactured to justify imposing martial law in 1972, the year before he was constitutionally required to relinquish power.

Marcos' ploy included mysterious bombings in Manila and a climactic mock assassination attempt against his defense minister, which was blamed on communist rebels and put forward as justification for suspending democracy. Martial law allowed Marcos to dodge similar legal term limits and maintain an iron grip on power until 1986, when he was finally overthrown in a popular revolt.

Arroyo's supporters have been keen to amend the constitution in ways that would allow her to extend her term in the capacity of prime minister rather than president. Her congressional supporters have stated their intention to form a constituent assembly towards that end. But a move towards martial law, her critics argue, would allow Arroyo to steer that legal process without congressional resistance in the opposition-led senate.

Under secretary of Justice and Anti-Terrorism Council spokesman Ricardo Blancaflor, in an interview with Asia Times Online, countered that conspiracy theory with one of his own by drawing parallels to the recent bombings with those foiled in Manila, including at the Department of Defense, in the aftermath of the contested 2004 general elections which Arroyo won under a cloud of vote-rigging allegations.

Blancaflor said the attempted 2004 bombings were found to be orchestrated by "anti-administration people outside of mainstream politics" and that a similar "political force" was likely behind the recent "bombs-for-show". He said the government had no intention to invoke martial law or a state of emergency, but was angling to pursue the bombers with the "full force" of anti-terrorism legislation, which allows for especially harsh convictions if attacks are ruled to have specifically targeted the government.

Allied budget cut
The legal distinction, some analysts say, could be diplomatically motivated. The mysterious bombings in Mindanao detonated just days before a highly anticipated visit to Manila by US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta. Eduardo Ermita, Arroyo's chief aide, told reporters Panetta's visit was to reaffirm Washington's commitment to one of its Southeast Asian anti-terror partners.

Since December 2000 and including last week's attacks, 671 Filipinos have been killed in terrorism-related bombings, including 116 victims in a 2004 bomb attack against a passenger ferry orchestrated by the Abu Sayyaf, according to official statistics. Despite those fatalities, Blancaflor insists the Philippines is winning its version of the war on terror and could further consolidate those gains with more US assistance, including more technology transfers in computer-driven forensics, fingerprinting and bomb security.

He told ATol his agents upended bomb plots, which allegedly included terror operatives from Malaysia, to target three different Manila-situated shopping malls last December. Since the 9/11 attacks against the US, Blancaflor proudly notes, that the Philippines has won 46 terrorism-related convictions while the US has only notched six in its worldwide campaign.

Previous US president George W Bush designated Southeast Asia as the "second front" in his global "war on terror" campaign and US financial assistance to the AFP surged by hundreds of millions of dollars to help combat Abu Sayyaf rebels, which Washington linked to al-Qaeda's global terror network. US soldiers are legally banned from combat in the Philippines, but have provided training and logistical support in offensives against Abu Sayyaf.

It's unclear, however, whether President Barack Obama will put the same emphasis and resources towards the task. The threat perception will have lowered in Washington as Manila's focus shifts towards the long time secessionist MILF and communist New People's Army, and away from the more clearly terrorism-linked Abu Sayyaf.

In a sign of the rebel group's apparent growing desperation and diminished firepower, Abu Sayyaf members kidnapped three Red Cross workers in January and over the weekend released the last Italian captive in a suspected prisoner-swap negotiation with the government.

There had been widespread speculation in the local media that Obama had until now side-stepped overtures by Arroyo to arrange a symbolic one-on-one meeting. The two leaders are now scheduled to meet at the White House on July 30 to discuss fighting terrorism and global warming. "We don't see a change coming in US-Philippine counter-terrorism cooperation," said Blancaflor. "We don't think the American people will turn their backs on the rest of the world."

Yet at least one counter-terrorism official based in Mindanao, who requested anonymity, said his unit was already bracing for a possible cut in US financial assistance under Obama's cash-strapped administration. Whether fears of potential US budget cuts played any role in the recent rounds of bombings is yet another conspiracy theory making the rounds in Manila and Mindanao.

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor and reported from Manila and Mindanao. Joel D Adriano is a Manila-based independent consultant and award-winning freelance journalist. He was a sub-editor for the business section of The Manila Times and writes for ASEAN BizTimes, Safe Democracy and People's Tonight.




Profile: Michael Meiring




Michael Meiring was a participant or observer in the following events:


Early 1990s and After: Mysterious Links Seen between Right Wing Westerners and Philippine Muslim Militants



In 2002, a Philippine newspaper article will claim that “Philippine police have long been aware of operational ties between local Islamic radicals and right-wing foreigners.” Apparently these ties become first noticeable in the early 1990s. The article is mainly about a 1996 recorded testimonial by Edwin Angeles, a Philippine undercover agent who had posed as a leader of the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf until 1995 (see 1991-Early February 1995). In his testimony, he claimed to have attended meetings between Muslim militants and Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols, plus another right-wing American named John Lepney (see Late 1992-Early 1993 and Late 1994). The article notes that Philippine officials believe such ties were not limited to these cases. “Why the strange alliance exists remains a puzzle to police and military intelligence agents. A senior counterterrorism expert says commerce and short-term goals could account for the unusual ties. ‘Eventually, they’ll be killing each other. But for now, they seem to be working together.’” Lepney had been seen in the rebellious areas of the southern Philippines since 1990 and occasionally boasted of his rebel ties. [Manila Times, 4/26/2002] Additionally, Michael Meiring, a US citizen who may have been a CIA operative with ties to Muslim militant leaders (see May 16, 2002) and December 2, 2004), periodically appeared in the same region beginning in 1992 (see 1992-1993). He sometimes stayed in Davao City, the same city where Lepney was based. Meiring claims to be a treasure hunter, but military officials note that there are “terrorists and intelligence operatives of all stripes about among treasure hunters’ circles.” Meiring also had ties to at least one neo-Nazi figure in the US. [Manila Times, 5/30/2002; Manila Times, 5/31/2002] Philippine officials will later identify a number of other suspicious right-wing Westerners living in the rebellious southern region of the country in the early 1990s. For instance, there is US citizen Nina North, whom acquaintances claim has CIA connections. From 1990 to 1992, she was reportedly working on business deals with bin Laden and other Middle East figures involving the transfer of gold bullion. In 2002, Philippine officials will claim that ties between right-wing Westerners and Muslim militants continue to the present day but they do not provide new information because of ongoing investigations. [Manila Times, 5/31/2002]
Entity Tags: Michael Meiring, John Lepney, Edwin Angeles, Nina North, Osama bin Laden
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, Complete 911 Timeline
[URL="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php"]


1992-1993: Suspected CIA Operative Has Ties to Philippine Militant Leaders



Michael Meiring, a suspected CIA operative connected to Philippine militant groups (see May 16, 2002), first comes to the Philippines and lives there for a year. According to a later report by the Manila Times, Meiring lives in the capital of Manila and is frequently seen with two agents of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Yet at the same time he is believed to have ties with the top leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which, together with the Abu Sayyaf, are the main Muslim militant groups in the southern Philippines. “Meiring’s connections with rebel leaders made the military wary about him. He was under surveillance by more than one intelligence unit on more than one occasion.” One close US friend later claims that in 1992 Meiring said he had found and sold a box full of US Federal Reserve notes worth more than $500 million. It is believed that he spends millions of dollars while in the Philippines. [Manila Times, 5/29/2002] (There appear to have been frequent scams in the Philippines involving millions and even billions of dollars of fraudulent US Federal Reserve notes.) [Time, 2/26/2001] Meiring, a former citizen of South Africa, fled to the US when he became the subject of an investigation toward the end of South Africa’s apartheid regime. He then became a US citizen. Meiring is connected to a group of treasure hunters led by James Rowe, an American. Rowe connects with a group of right-wing white supremacists linked to the US neo-Nazi party. In 1993, Meiring and Rowe travel to the Philippines together. [Manila Times, 5/30/2002] Meiring will come and go between the US and the Philippines for the next ten years, claiming to be a treasure hunter. In 2002 he will be severely injured by a bomb he is trying to make and will be whisked out of the Philippines by US officials (see May 16, 2002) and December 2, 2004). Philippine officials have observed other right-wing Americans with ties to Muslim militants starting in the early 1990s (see Early 1990s and After). [Manila Times, 5/29/2002]
Entity Tags: National Bureau of Investigation, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, James Rowe, Michael Meiring
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, Complete 911 Timeline
[URL="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php"]
[/URL]

May 16, 2002: CIA Operative Hurt While Posing as Terrorist Bomber in Philippines?



US citizen Michael Meiring is suspected of being a CIA operative after injuring himself in an explosion in his own hotel room. Meiring claimed a grenade was thrown into his room, but a Philippine government investigation determined the center of the blast came from an assembled bomb kept in a metal box owned by Meiring. Hotel employees said Meiring told them for weeks not to touch the box while cleaning the room. Additionally, an ID card with his picture on it found in his room lists him as an officer in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim rebel militant group. [KHOU-TV, 12/2/2004] One hour after the bombing in his room, a bomb explodes in a marketplace in the same region, injuring four people. [Agence France-Presse, 5/16/2002] In the two months prior to this explosion in his room, there were several other other explosions in the same region, killing 37 people and injuring 170 more. [Minda News, 5/30/2003] In 2003, a group of Philippine soldiers will mutiny, in part because they believe these bombings were done with the secret approval of the Philippine government, and not done by rebel groups as the government claims (see July 27-28, 2003). A number of Philippine officials speculate Meiring may have been a CIA agent. Those who knew him said that he referred to himself as a CIA agent, but said it stood for “Christ In Action.” He had frequently visited the Philippines for at least ten years. [Minda News, 5/30/2003] He claimed to be a treasure hunter, and had a company called Parousia International Trading (in Christian theology, Parousia is a term for the second coming of Christ). He also had ties to right wing extremists in the US (see 1992-1993). He was said to be very well connected in the Philippines, being visited in his hotel room prior to the explosion by congressmen, a governor, and military officials. He was also connected to militants in the MNLF, Abu Sayyaf, and other groups. He was said to have met with top leaders of these militant groups starting in 1992 (see 1992-1993). One source who knew him said that earlier in the year he had predicted a series of bombings and that his predictions “always came true.” [Minda News, 5/31/2003] Meiring was already a major suspect in the production and distribution of counterfeit US Treasury bills. Over the last few years, billions of dollars worth of fake US Treasury bills were confiscated in the region. [Time, 2/26/2001; BusinessWorld, 5/27/2002] Four days after the explosion, FBI agents take him out of the hospital where he was recovering from severe burns and amputations. According to the Philippine Immigration Deputy Commissioner, agents of the US National Security Council then take him to the capital of Manila. The Financial Times will later report that he returns to the US and is handed over to the CIA. [Manila Times, 5/30/2002; Financial Times, 7/12/2002; Guardian, 8/15/2003] The Guardian will later comment, “Local officials have demanded that Meiring return to face charges, to little effect. BusinessWorld, a leading Philippine newspaper, has published articles openly accusing Meiring of being a CIA agent involved in covert operations ‘to justify the [recent] stationing of American troops and bases in Mindanao.’ The Meiring affair has never been reported in the US press.” [Guardian, 8/15/2003] In 2004, a Houston TV station will trace Meiring back to the US, where he still lives, despite the Philippine government wanting him to be extradited to face a variety of charges related to the explosion (see December 2, 2004).
Entity Tags: Moro National Liberation Front, National Security Council, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Abu Sayyaf, Michael Meiring
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, Complete 911 Timeline
[URL="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php"]
[/URL]

December 2, 2004: Possible CIA Operative Posing as Muslim Militant and Wanted Overseas Is Discovered Living in US



A treasure hunter suspected of being a CIA operative is discovered living in the US. In May 2002, US citizen Michael Meiring accidentally blew himself up in a Philippines hotel room, and ended up losing both of his legs. He was mysteriously whisked back to the US amidst media reports suggesting he was a CIA operative posing as a Muslim militant bomber (see May 16, 2002). On June 19, 2002, the chief of the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation vowed that Meiring would be brought back to the Philippines to face charges since he appeared to have returned to the US, and the Philippines and the US have an existing extradition treaty. [Minda News, 6/1/2003] On December 2, 2004, a Houston TV station will discover that Meiring is living in Houston, Texas. They examined court documents about him and learned that earlier in 2004 he changed his last name to Van De Meer. The Philippine government confirms that they issued an arrest warrant for Meiring and are still looking for him and an associate of his named Stephen Hughes, who is now said to be living in North Carolina. Counterterrorism expert Ron Hatchett asks, “How is he able to walk around freely within our society using the name that is on the arrest warrant for him?” Meiring is reached by phone in California. His only on the record comment to the reporter who discovered him is, “If this harms me in any way, you will find my power then, and you’ll find out who I am. But I will come for you. You harm me I will not let you off the hook.” [KHOU-TV, 12/2/2004; Filipino Reporter, 12/30/2004] In early 2005, it will be reported that Meiring may not get extradited back to the Philippines because the Philippine government cannot produce a picture of him. [Mindanao Times, 3/23/2005] However, previous media reports claimed that a picture ID of Meiring was found in his hotel room after the explosion there. The ID lists him as an officer in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim rebel militant group. [KHOU-TV, 12/2/2004] He appears to have ties to leaders of that group and other Philippine Muslim militant groups since 1992 (see 1992-1993). Since 2004, there have been no reports of Meiring being successfully extradited.
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Moro National Liberation Front, Michael Meiring, Ron Hatchett, National Bureau of Investigation, Stephen Hughes
Timeline Tags: Alleged Use of False Flag Attacks, Complete 911 Timeline

[Jan Klimkowski]

Michael Meiring - a Quiet American, as Graham Greene would say....

We need a False Flag icon.

[Magda Hassan]

Since he had his legs blown off by his own bomb and has retired to the US I wonder who else is playing his part over there?