Philippine marines have seized thousands of blasting caps and detonators from a ferry at a southern island where the military is battling al-Qaida-linked militants.Marine Maj. Hernani Songgano, who heads the Jolo Internal Defense Force on Jolo Island, said he ordered passengers off the ferry Everqueen Emilia after security officers discovered some of the small explosives inside a bag carried by a man who earlier refused to have it inspected.
Songgano said marines and soldiers who searched the vessel found about 30 boxes containing about 6,000 blasting caps and detonators that had been hidden among clothes.
The man, Modjahirin Malik, is allegedly a member of the former Muslim separatist group Moro National Liberation Front. He claimed the explosives belonged to another MNLF member he was supposed to meet at the ferry.
That's it for this morning's session - the remaining seven posts will be posted later in the day
