Ordered to Lie, Terror Trial Witness Says

A Philippine police officer unexpectedly admitted Tuesday that superiors ordered him to lie about evidence found at an apartment used as the bomb factory in an alleged plot to destroy U.S. passenger jets.

The surprise confession came during the trial of three radical Muslims accused of planning to bomb 12 U.S. jets in a 48-hour period.

Defense lawyers said they had not known about the admission until Tuesday’s testimony. They said it could support arguments that some of the evidence should be ruled inadmissible because it was collected without a search warrant and may have been tampered with by Philippine authorities.

“I really couldn’t do anything because I was a sergeant at the time . . . the instructions came from above,” Orlando Ramilo, the police officer, testified in Manhattan federal court.

Prosecutors say the airline bombings, which could have killed 4,000 people, were planned to punish the United States for its support of Israel. The defendants are Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, 28, who topped the FBI’s most-wanted list for two years; Abdul Hakim Murad, 28; and Wali Khan Amin Shah, 29.

Yousef is also charged with placing a bomb on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Tokyo on Dec. 11, 1994. The bomb exploded under the seat of a Japanese passenger, killing him and injuring 10 other people.