Surveillance, tipoffs, phone tapping aid in Samudra's arrest<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Agencies<\/p>\n
Surveillance, tipoffs and cellular phone monitoring by the
\njoint international police team led to the arrest on Thursday of
\nImam Samudra, one of the main suspects of the Oct. 12 Bali
\nbombing, which killed over 190 people.<\/p>\n
According to police, Samudra was arrested at 5:30 p.m., on
\nboard a Kurnia Line bus that was about to go aboard a ferry to
\nSumatra from Merak port in Banten province. The port is some 90
\nkilometers west of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Police acted after a tipoff from Samudra's acquaintances Yudi
\nalias Andri or Andri Oktavia, and Abdul Rauf, alias Syam, who
\nwere arrested earlier on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.<\/p>\n
It was still unclear however, how the two were arrested and
\nconnected to Samudra or the bombing but police implicated Yudi
\nand Rauf in a robbery which was allegedly was plotted by Samudra.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Samudra gave no resistance to the arrest. On the
\nprevious day Samudra was reported buying two tickets from a bus
\nticket agent in Cilegon.<\/p>\n
He came alone to the bus station at around 4 p.m., in a
\nchartered public minivan. He directly boarded the bus. Before the
\nbus entered the ferry, police stormed into it and made the
\narrest.<\/p>\n
Rauf and Yudi identified Samudra on the spot.<\/p>\n
After the arrest, police took Samudra away in a white Kijang
\nvan whereupon they drove to several areas of Banten asking him to
\nshow them the hideouts of other suspects.<\/p>\n
The police reportedly found a BNI account under the name of
\nAbdul Aziz, reportedly his birth name.<\/p>\n
As of Friday evening, he remained in custody at the Cilegon
\npolice station, a short drive from Merak port.<\/p>\n
Samudra was the second suspect to be arrested after Amrozi. He
\nwas described by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar as the
\nmastermind of the Bali bombing. He was so important that Da'i
\nrushed to Cilegon, Banten, to pay a visit and question the
\nsuspect himself.<\/p>\n
The spokesman for the multinational investigation team Brig.
\nGen. Edward Aritonang said the arrest was a joint effort of
\nIndonesian police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).<\/p>\n
The manhunt was backed up by Australian police efforts,
\nAritonang said.<\/p>\n
Police had reportedly monitored the cellular phone used by
\nSamudra until the telephone number became inactive after Amrozi
\nwas nabbed.<\/p>\n
\"Australia police helped to arrest Samudra with their
\ntechnology, actually, on the mobile phones, and so on,\" Aritonang
\nwas quoted by AFP as saying. He did not go into further detail,
\nhowever.<\/p>\n
The Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, on
\nFriday played down Aritonang's comments.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Australia, Keelty would not comment
\non the technology other than to say it was off the shelf
\ncommercial technology and not new.<\/p>\n
The head of the Bali bomb investigative team, Indonesian
\nInspector General I Made Mangku Pastika, said Samudra's arrest
\nwas \"not exactly\" a result of cellular phone tracking.<\/p>\n
\"Because he only operates his mobile phone for a very short
\ntime, less than 20 seconds. How could we trace him in such a
\nshort time?\" Pastika said.<\/p>\n
The Oct. 12 blast outside the Sari nightclub in Bali's
\nbustling Kuta tourist strip killed more than 190 people, almost
\nhalf of them Australians.<\/p>\n
Police say a Mitsubishi L-300 van packed with explosives
\nstopped briefly directly in front of the club before it exploded
\nwith the help of a cellular telephone.<\/p>\n
\"We know this bomb exploded with a cellular phone, and it
\nexploded by means of his phone,\" Pastika said last Sunday,
\nreferring to bombing suspect Dulmatin, who is one of five
\nsuspects still wanted for the attack.<\/p>\n
\"He made contact via an SMS (short message service),\" the
\npolice general said.<\/p>\n
\"Apparently from the mobile phone fragments at the edge of the
\nroad we are certain that the bomb was exploded with a cellular
\nphone,\" Pastika said.<\/p>\n
Very shortly after the Sari bombing a small bomb caused minor
\ndamage near the office of the US honorary consul in Denpasar,
\nBali.<\/p>\n
\"It has been determined that a mobile phone formed part of the
\ndevice used in that explosion,\" Australian police have said in a
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
Da'i Bachtiar has said that when they were planning the Bali
\nattack, the bomb plotters exchanged SMS phone messages after
\nholding face-to-face meetings.<\/p>\n
Samudra's journey until the Bali bombing<\/p>\n
1970: Samudra is born in Lopang Gede village, Serang, Banten.<\/p>\n
1990: He leaves Serang for Malaysia after graduating from a
\nlocal Islamic high school. In the same year, he goes to Pakistan
\nand then Afghanistan, where he lives for two and a half years and
\nlearns how to assemble bombs and use other weapons.<\/p>\n
1994: He returns to Malaysia and lives in the state of Johor
\nfor six and a half years. He works as a textile trader and
\nlecturer, but continues to develop his skill in making bombs. It
\nis during this time that he learns how to use the Internet. He
\ncontacts Muslims around the world, which shapes his view on
\njihad.<\/p>\n
2000: He returns to Indonesia for a month, and visits Batam,
\nwhere he allegedly sets off a bomb. He is also suspected of
\nplotting a series of church bombings across the country, which
\nkilled 19 people. He later goes back to Malaysia.<\/p>\n
2001: He returns to Indonesia to allegedly plan another series
\nof bombings. For the Bali bombing, he is said to have chaired a
\nseries of meetings in Central Java.<\/p>\n
Oct. 12, 2002: The Bali blasts kill more than 190 people.
\nSamudra stays in Bali until a day after the bombing, and then
\ngoes by bus to Banyuwangi, East Java, where he changes trains and
\ntravels to several cities in Java.<\/p>\n
Nov. 21, 2002: Samudra is arrested in the port of Merak,
\nBanten.<\/p>",
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