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| Filippino American sentenced for running guns to Mindanao |
| 2005-12-19 |
| A Filipino living in New York has been sentenced to 40 months in jail for allegedly shipping weapons to a terrorist lair in the southern Philippines. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office said 40-year-old Fernando Sero, alias Ferdie Resada, was convicted on Friday by US District Judge Charles Brieant of the White Plains Federal Court for violation of the US Arms Export Control Act. Sero had pleaded guilty to shipping automatic weapons and gun parts to Mindanao since 2003 and selling the armaments to whomever would like to buy them. Sero allegedly purchased the weapons in the US and sent them to Mindanao in sealed containers with falsified shipping documents. In some instances, he concealed the weapons parts in boxes containing household goods, such as a light fixture and an electric car cooler. The court said Sero had shipped items classified as defense articles by the US State Department Mindanao at least on four occasionsâon September 9, 11 and 12, 2003, and again on March 22 this year. Some of the shipments were intercepted by US and Filipino authorities. The Mindanao Navy chief, Commodore Rufino Lopez, said on Monday that his office had intensified efforts to curb the entry of illegal weapons in the region. He said the Philippines had forged bilateral agreements with Malaysia and Indonesia calling for a joint-border patrol in the southern Philippines. âWe have always intenÂsified our operations against the illegal entry of weapons in MinÂdanao. As a matter of fact, the Philippines is working very closely with other countries to stop the smuggling of weapons,â he told The Manila Times. Lopez praised the US court decision, saying, âGood justice knows no border.â He said the Southern ComÂmand chief, Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, had also ordered a tough campaign against weapons smuggling. âWe continue to exert efforts to track gunrunners in Mindanao, and at the same time, we are cooperating with other law-enforcement agencies on the exchange of intelligence,â Lopez said. Mindanao is a known lair of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New Peopleâs Army. Members of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group and private armies of politicians are active in the southern reÂgion, which has one of the worldâs longest shorelines. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |