A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intelligence analyst and a former top Philippines law enforcement official were charged in federal court on Monday with espionage.
The FBI analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, New Jersey, is a naturalized US citizen who was born in the Philippines, and Michael Ray Aquino, 39, of Queens, was a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police under the administration of former president Joseph Estrada.
The two men are accused of passing classified agency information to government officials in Manila in a case that appeared related to the Philippines' fractious internal politics.
FBI officials in the US have asked the Philippines for help in the case of a fugitive ex-Filipino police officer arrested in the US on espionage charges, an official said yesterday.
Michael Ray Aquino was arrested along with an FBI employee for allegedly stealing "highly classified" material stored in computers at an FBI office in the US, National Bureau of Investigation chief Reynaldo Wycoco said.
Aquino, who is believed to have fled to the US several years ago after being indicted in Manila on homicide charges, apparently tried to buy the material from the Filipino-American employee, Wycoco told ABS-CBN television.
The pair were arrested in New York City over the weekend.
"They are asking for our assistance," Wycoco said, adding that the FBI wanted to know who supplied Aquino with the money and who was the intended recipient of the classified documents.
The FBI also wants the National Bureau of Investigation to help check Aquino's telephone and bank records, Wycoco said.
He named the arrested FBI employee as Leandro Aragoncillo. Wycoco said the pair were arrested in possession of documents pertaining to "highly classified assessments of the Philippine political situation" as well as assessments of "Philippines political leaders."
"In the following days we might be able to know who are behind the activities of Michael Ray Aquino," he said.
The announcement of the arrests followed last week's defeat in Congress of an opposition impeachment complaint against President Gloria Arroyo. The case had alleged she stole last year's presidential election.
Wycoco said Aquino could face up to 18 years in jail if convicted by US courts of espionage. The former police officer could also be charged for other crimes including money laundering, he added.
According to affidavits by FBI agents, Aragoncillo passed copies of classified FBI documents about the Philippines to Aquino between February and August of this year, using cellphone text messages and e-mail messages.
Both men were ordered held without bail by US Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz. Aquino was in the US on an expired six-month tourist visa that was issued in 2001.
Messages intercepted by investigators were heavily edited in the court affidavit but appeared to deal with FBI information about domestic political turmoil in the Philippines.
The ultimate destination of the information, according to the court papers, were three unnamed public officials in the Philippines.
US Attorney Christopher Christie declined to characterize the information that the two men are said to have passed.
While the information did not involve terrorism or national security directly, he said, "Crimes like these strike at the heart of our national security because they involve our keeping our secrets secret."
Aquino has long been the subject of attempts by the government of President Arroyo to link him with the 2000 kidnapping and slaying of a Manila public relations executive and his driver.
While he has never been charged, Aquino has, in his absence, been at the center of several court proceedings to implicate him and a current opposition lawmaker, Senator Panfilo Lacson, in the 2000 crimes and other corruption charges.
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