JI members wanted chaos on Thailand<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Four Thais accused of belonging to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
\nterrorist group plotted to launch simultaneous attacks on
\nembassies and tourist spots in the kingdom in June, a witness at
\ntheir trial said on Friday.<\/p>\n
In testimony continued from the case's first hearing earlier
\nthis month, a police officer who arrested the suspects told the
\nThai Criminal court that the four along with Singaporean suspect
\nArifin bin Ali wanted to cause chaos.<\/p>\n
Three of the accused, Islamic religious teacher Maisuri Haji
\nAbdullah, his son Mayahi Haji Doloh and medical doctor Waemahadi
\nWae-dao, were arrested in June in the southern Muslim-majority
\nprovince of Narathiwat.<\/p>\n
The fourth man, Samarn Wakaji, surrendered to authorities in
\nearly July.<\/p>\n
\"Doctor Waemahadi Wae-dao fixed the targets in the provinces
\nand assigned Samarn Wakaji to check the targets, while Arifin
\nfixed and inspected the targets in Bangkok,\" Special Branch
\npolice colonel Peerapong Duongamporn said.<\/p>\n
\"Samarn and Arifin planned to drive the cars to carry the
\nbombs to the targets, which were to be detonated at the same time
\non June 6 in order to create the maximum amount of chaos,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Arifin, also known as John Wong Ah Hung, is alleged to be a
\nsenior member of the Singaporean wing of JI. He was detained in
\nthe kingdom in May and then repatriated to Singapore, but
\nThailand has since asked for his extradition.<\/p>\n
The four men stand accused of planning to bomb the embassies
\nof Australia, Britain, Israel, Singapore and the United States,
\nas well Bangkok's backpacker district Khao San Road, the Nana
\nred-light district and the resorts of Phuket and Pattaya.<\/p>\n
Peerapong told the court that Waemahadi promised Arifin he
\ncould find a bomb-making expert who was an ex-member of the
\nalmost-defunct separatist group the Pattani United Liberation
\nOrganization (PULO). He said he could also procure the necessary
\ningredients for bomb-making.<\/p>\n
He also alleged that the four suspects had sought advice from
\nArifin on setting up a chapter of the JI network in Thailand with
\nWaemahadi as its head.<\/p>\n
\"They agreed that Waemahadi should be the leader of JI here
\nsince he was prepared in terms of finance, intelligence and
\nvision,\" the officer said.<\/p>\n
U.S. intelligence had furthermore linked Waemahadi to JI, he
\nalleged.<\/p>\n
\"U.S. intelligence indicated that Waemahadi made telephone
\ncalls to Dubai companies housed in a building owned by an al-
\nQaeda associate,\" the officer said without elaborating further.<\/p>\n
The militant JI group is seen as the Southeast Asian branch of
\nOsama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and has been blamed for last
\nyear's Bali bombings and an array of other deadly attacks.<\/p>\n
Peerapong said the suspects and Arifin had first met in
\nBangkok in mid-2001 and Samarn helped the Singaporean obtain a
\nfake Thai identification card to facilitate border crossings to
\nand from Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The prosecution expects to call a further 43 witnesses while
\ndefense lawyers say they will produce 20 witnesses during the
\ntrial, which is expected to run for years before a verdict is
\nreached.<\/p>\n
The next hearing, during which Peerapong will be cross-
\nexamined by the defense, is scheduled for Dec. 29 and 30.<\/p>\n
Thai police said after their arrests that Maisuri and his son
\nadmitted belonging to JI and confessed to the bomb plots, while
\nWaemahadi confessed to providing fake passports to JI members.
\nTheir lawyer denies the confessions were made.<\/p>",
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