ZAMBOANGA CITY, 18 March 2007 — Authorities arrested an escaped associate of slain Jemaah Islamiya bomber Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi in the island of Basilan.
Police said Omar Opik Lasal also known as Merang Abante was nabbed Friday in Isabela City.
Lasal escaped from a police detention in Manila together with Al-Ghozi and Abdulmukim Edris in 2003 and was recaptured later in Basilan and had been detained in the Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga City when he was released.
Some politicians reportedly worked for his relese for still unknown reasons, a senior army official said yesterday.
