PNP, FBI nab Pinoy hackers with JI links

Philippine authorities, with assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have arrested a group of Filipino hackers with alleged links to Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

The suspects — Macnell Gracilla, 31; Francisco Mañalac, 25; Regina Balura, 21; and Paul Michael Kwan, 29 — were accused of hacking the trunk-line of US telecommunications firm AT&T and diverting $2 million to the account of terrorists.

The four were arrested Wednesday by virtue of a warrant that stemmed from a complaint filed by AT&T regarding hacking activities in the Philippines, according to Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

Sosa said one of the suspects, Kwan, was first arrested in 2007 following an international crackdown launched by the FBI against suspected terrorist cells involved in terrorist funding.

The group was already in contact with one Muhammad Zamir, a JI member, according to the Sosa, citing information furnished to them by the FBI. Zamir reportedly paid the group on a commission basis through local banks.
 
Zamir was arrested in 2007, but a Saudi national took helm of his group’s operations and maintained links with the Filipino hackers.
 
CIDG chief Police Director Samuel D Pagdilao Jr.  said the arrest of the suspects should serve as a “wake up call” for lawmakers to expedite the passage of the Cyber Crime Prevention Bill now pending in Congress.
 
The JI has maintained its presence in the Philippines with the help of the Abu Sayyaf, a loosely organized bandit group blamed for various kidnap-for-ransom and bombing activities in Mindanao and Metro Manila. - Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News