Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero issued the travel ban against bank employee Reonel Ramones, who was released by the National Bureau of Investigation Tuesday for lack of evidence. He was to appear at another hearing at the Department of Justice May 19.
"The hold departure order is deemed necessary to ensure that Mr. Ramones is available in the conduct of a speedy investigation of the case," Tuquero said.
The love bug virus is believed to have attacked at least 45 million computer users worldwide, from Ford Motor Co to the British Parliament, with damage estimates ranging as high as US$10 billion. Unleashed last week, the virus was mainly transmitted through Microsoft Corp's Outlook software. The attack was the biggest of its kind, triggering an international search for the perpetrators.
The NBI picked up Ramones on Monday as he was about to enter his apartment in a suburb of Manila. U.S. law enforcement agencies had helped investigators track the suspect to a telephone line, from which the virus allegedly originated. The line was registered in the name of Ramones' live-in partner, Irene de Guzman. Both are bank employees.
The NBI is still looking at other possible suspects. These include de Guzman's 23 year-old brother, Onel, a drop out of the AMA Computer College who allegedly submitted as his thesis a virus program that steals victims' passwords and retrieves their computer files, the Philippine Star reported, citing unidentified persons at the NBI.
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