18 more JI members arrested
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police reported more progress in their counter-terrorism measures with the arrest of 18 more members of the regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which will provide them with an opportunity to further investigate a series of terror attacks in the past, including the bomb blasts in Bali and Makassar.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said here on Wednesday that 17 JI members, including 12 in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi, were arrested last week while the remaining one Abu Rusdan who reportedly replaced Abu Bakar Ba'asyir as JI supreme leader, was captured early on Wednesday at his home town in Kudus, Central Java.
Ba'asyir was arrested in October and is now facing charges for a variety of offenses connected to his work with JI at the Central Jakarta District Court.
The 12 were identified as Saad alias Achmad Rohian, Firmansyah, Aan Nazanudin, Nizam Chalid, Yusuf alias Fachri, Fauzan Arief, Sugeng, Joko Santoso, Mochtar Sutisno, Nono Maryono, as well as two Malaysian citizens Nurmiswari, also called Nurdin or Herman and Muhammad Ratin bin Nurdin alias Firdiansyah, and were transferred to Jakarta from Palu on Wednesday.
Sawad, Umar Besar and Hafidz were captured in their hiding place in Cileungsi in Bogor, West Java while the identity of the remaining two were kept confidential pending further investigation.
"Three of the 18 are suspected in their direct or indirect involvement in the Bali blasts," he said, adding that the police also confiscated thousands of rounds of ammunition, dozens of fire arms and other bomb materials for a possible plan to launch other attacks somewhere in the country.
The three --Sawad alias Sergio, Saad and Umar Besar-- were three of 30 suspects in Bali explosions and they will likely be sent to Bali to undergo further investigation.
"Following the Bali bombing, we can not conclude that JI is already dead. Other JI members will likely continue their terror attacks to fight for their goals," Da'i said
Da'i however declined to reveal the terrorist group's possible bombing targets, saying: "That's how they work that they will never leave written evidence or maps describing their targets."
The United Nations put JI on its official terrorist blacklist days after the Bali attacks on Oct. 12, 2002, which killed more than 200 people, mostly Australian, and wounded more than 320 others. Investigators have reportedly found evidence of close links between the Bali bombings and the Nov. 5, 2002 Makassar blasts where three people were killed and dozens of others were injured at a McDonald's restaurant.
Many believe that JI also has links to the Osama bin Laden-led al-Qaeda network which was held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy in New York and Washington, in which more than 3,000 people died.
Police Detective Chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng insisted that the police would investigate the 18 suspects for their alleged involvement in terrorism in the past and they would be charged under the 2002 anti-terror Perpu (government regulation in lieu of law).
"With the arrest of the 18 suspects, we will continue developing our investigations into all bomb blasts in the past," he said, adding that the police were still seeking many more of their cohorts.
He conceded that the police were questioning the new suspects about possible links between JI and Ba'asyir with the Bali and Makassar blasts, the series of Christmas Eve bombings in 2000 and another series of bombs in Jakarta in 2001.
Asked for further information about their involvement in the Oct. 12 attack, Erwin said that Nasir was holding two positions in JI as a regional leader supervising Sabah, East Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, the southern Philippines and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia, in addition to being a subregion leader (Wakalah) of Sabah.
"Saad is believed to be involved in a series of bomb attacks across the country in 2000, including the one at the Philippines embassy. Firdiansyah is also allegedly involved in the 2000 Atrium Plaza bombing," Erwin said.
He added that the police were still hunting for seven more JI members, including Dulmatin, Jhon Anshari, Hambali, Umar Kecil Patek and Idris. The first two were assemblers of the explosives used in Bali blasts
He said the police seized from the suspects some 6,620 rounds of ammunition, along with a magnum pistol, some homemade guns, some active low explosive bombs, and other bomb materials, including 25 kg of sulfur, 15 kg of a potassium compound, 45 active detonators, fertilizer and calcium powder.
Previously the police arrested 15 of 24 suspects in the Bali blasts and some of them were JI members, including Imam Samudra aka Abdul Azis, Amrozi, Ali Gufron aka Muklas, Hernianto aka Rudy, Andri Octavia aka Yudi, Junaedi aka Amin aka Engkong,Andi Hidayat aka Agus, Abdul Rauf aka Sam, Makmuri aka Muri, M Najib Nawawi, Ahmad Budi Wibowo, Herlambang aka Zaidin, Bambang Setiono aka Saeful aka Suroso, Masykur Abdul Kadir, Muhamad Musyafak aka Abdul Hamid. Ten more suspects, including Ali Imron, are still waiting for the completion of their dossiers.
The suspects were scheduled to stand trial by the end of this month.
The police in South Sulawesi have arrested 19 of 23 suspects in the Makassar blasts and 13 will stand trial at the Makassar District Court in May.
The police have also arrested Abdul Jabar who was allegedly involved in the Atrium bombing and Mas Slamet Kastari, a suspect in a 2000 bombing in Pekanbaru, Riau.