Hackers linked to terrorists arrested in Manila.

It sounds like it was an old school PBX style attack, and making use of voice bridging type features to make calls via business lines. This style attack has been around for a long time, and quite frankly isn't really hacking in most cases - generally the systems are using default passwords, or it can also be a social engineering style attack via the operator/secretary of such systems.

Personally, I think that without the FBI they would not have been caught. The laws here are very weak and corruption is very rampant. Without the FBI, they could just have paid their way out of the problem.

I'm glad that they are caught and would love to have more of these FBI + Philippine Government operations going on. I don't want this country to become a haven for criminals. With other governments involved I think it would be much harder to bribe themselves out of the situation.