Top Terrorist: Manila offered Patek’s custody; report

Patek has long been wanted in his own country for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Pakistan is believed to have offered the custody of a top Asian terrorist to the Philippines, where he hid for several years on islands in the south of the archipelago. The Jakarta Globe quoted two Philippine security officials on Thursday as saying that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency also asked Indonesia, which is Umar Patek’s home country, if it wanted to take him. Patek, whose real name is Anis Alawi Jaffar, has long been wanted in his own country for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings. He then fled to the Philippines where he struck an alliance with the brutal Abu Sayyaf extremist group. Pakistan has taken steps to relinquish the custody of Patek and his Filipina wife, Ruqayya Binte Hussain Lucino from southern Sarangani province.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2011.