South Sumatra terrorist suspects linked to Noordin
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Fri, 07/04/2008 11:08 AM Headlines
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Fri, 07/04/2008 11:08 AM Headlines
Police said Thursday the nine terror suspects arrested in South Sumatra recently had connections to fugitive Jamaah Islamiyah figures Noordin Moh. Top and Mas Slamet Kastari.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira said the police's anti-terror squad captured nine people in the South Sumatra capital of Palembang during a series of raids Tuesday and Wednesday.
The raids followed the June 28 arrest of MH, who was wanted in Singapore for terrorism, in Sekayu district in the South Sumatra regency of Musi Banyuasin.
"We arrested MH following a tip-off from Singapore," Abubakar said as quoted by Antara news agency.
The police flew the nine suspects, identified only by their initials, from Palembang to Jakarta on Thursday.
Under tight police escort, the suspects, with their faces masked, arrived at the Mobile Brigade detention center in Depok, south of Jakarta, at about 11:10 a.m. local time.
In a raid on a house in Palembang on Wednesday, police discovered and seized eight partly assembled bombs and 13 fully built bombs, along with 50 kilograms of explosive materials.
Noordin was responsible for a series of bomb attacks in the country between 2002 and 2005, along with his Malaysian partner Dr. Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a raid in Malang, East Java, in 2006. Kastari is a Singapore-based JI leader who escaped from a maximum security prison in the country last February.
Abubakar said MH admitted he had assembled the bombs and trained the other suspects to make them.
Suspects AT, SG and AM were also allegedly involved in assembling the explosives.
Police found during questioning that the South Sumatra terror network was connected with members of the Noordin-led group, which was captured in Semarang and Wonosobo in Central Java in 2006.
Terrorism analyst Noor Huda Ismail of Sekurindo Global Consultants said the South Sumatra group was made of old faces who had built a new network.
He suspected the group had found new sources of explosive supplies in Thailand and the Philippines as the traditional ones had come under police watch.
"The arrests only reveal that the Indonesian, Thai and Philippine borders are porous enough that the terrorists can easily bring explosives into Indonesia," he said.
The fact that the suspected terrorists operated in Palembang, which is not a JI stronghold, should serve as a warning that terrorism remains a real danger, he added.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutarman said the recent arrests indicated that the terrorist network had moved its base from Java to Sumatra.
He said Batam Island could be the next target of an act of terrorism, due to the communications network in place there.
Fadli contributed to the story from Batam. from www.thejakatapost.com
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira said the police's anti-terror squad captured nine people in the South Sumatra capital of Palembang during a series of raids Tuesday and Wednesday.
The raids followed the June 28 arrest of MH, who was wanted in Singapore for terrorism, in Sekayu district in the South Sumatra regency of Musi Banyuasin.
"We arrested MH following a tip-off from Singapore," Abubakar said as quoted by Antara news agency.
The police flew the nine suspects, identified only by their initials, from Palembang to Jakarta on Thursday.
Under tight police escort, the suspects, with their faces masked, arrived at the Mobile Brigade detention center in Depok, south of Jakarta, at about 11:10 a.m. local time.
In a raid on a house in Palembang on Wednesday, police discovered and seized eight partly assembled bombs and 13 fully built bombs, along with 50 kilograms of explosive materials.
Noordin was responsible for a series of bomb attacks in the country between 2002 and 2005, along with his Malaysian partner Dr. Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a raid in Malang, East Java, in 2006. Kastari is a Singapore-based JI leader who escaped from a maximum security prison in the country last February.
Abubakar said MH admitted he had assembled the bombs and trained the other suspects to make them.
Suspects AT, SG and AM were also allegedly involved in assembling the explosives.
Police found during questioning that the South Sumatra terror network was connected with members of the Noordin-led group, which was captured in Semarang and Wonosobo in Central Java in 2006.
Terrorism analyst Noor Huda Ismail of Sekurindo Global Consultants said the South Sumatra group was made of old faces who had built a new network.
He suspected the group had found new sources of explosive supplies in Thailand and the Philippines as the traditional ones had come under police watch.
"The arrests only reveal that the Indonesian, Thai and Philippine borders are porous enough that the terrorists can easily bring explosives into Indonesia," he said.
The fact that the suspected terrorists operated in Palembang, which is not a JI stronghold, should serve as a warning that terrorism remains a real danger, he added.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutarman said the recent arrests indicated that the terrorist network had moved its base from Java to Sumatra.
He said Batam Island could be the next target of an act of terrorism, due to the communications network in place there.
Fadli contributed to the story from Batam. from www.thejakatapost.com
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