Filipino linked to Islamic terror group, court told

A Filipino described as "an Islamic radical" was "lying low" in Belfast when he was arrested earlier this year, the High Court…

A Filipino described as "an Islamic radical" was "lying low" in Belfast when he was arrested earlier this year, the High Court was told yesterday.

Mr Jaybe Ofrasio (31) had used the e-mail name "Moroblade" to send messages from computers in the Royal Victoria Hospital, where his wife worked as a nurse, and from libraries in the Falls Road and Belfast city centre, a prosecutor claimed.

"These were financial transactions in funding terrorist activities," he said.

The Moroblade user name had been detected on a computer in Indonesia after the arrest of Mohammed Nasir bin Abbas, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), a terrorist organisation based in the Philippines and linked to al-Qaeda, the court heard.

READ MORE

Mr Ofrasio was arrested at his home in Hawthornden Street, off the Falls Road, on January 29th. He had been living there with his wife and three stepchildren since July 2003, four months after getting married in the Philippines.

At his Belfast home they found a video of him posing with a handgun, and e-mails he had sent to Mr Abbas contained spread sheets with financial transactions concerning terrorist funds and equipment, said the prosecutor.

Mr Ofrasio faces two charges of having entered into an arrangement as a result of which money and property were made available to terrorists, under Section 17 of the Terrorism Act.

Police in the Philippines searched a house belonging to Mr Ofrasio in Cotabato city and arrested a tenant, Mr Taufiq Rifke, the prosecution said.

There they found a computer with bills in Mr Ofrasio's name, bomb-making equipment and a manual on how to make poisons. Several other men believed to be living at the house were still being sought by police.

After his arrest Mr Rifke was said to have admitted being a JI member and taking part in bomb attacks in the Philippines.

The court heard the police did not have full transcripts of the e-mails as they were CIA property and could not yet be used as evidence, but that permission was being sought. The prosecutor said there was a very strong objection to bail and a real concern Mr Ofrasio would abscond and commit further offences, not only in this jurisdiction but elsewhere in the world.

A defence lawyer said several applications for bail had been postponed because evidence against Mr Ofrasio had not been produced. "All the charges hang on establishing that the applicant is the person known as Moroblade and uses that e-mail address. He denied it and denies involvement in JI." Mr Ofrasio was remanded in custody until April 20th when the court will review the available evidence.