Amrozi names Samudra a mastermind of Bali blast

Amrozi names Samudra a mastermind of Bali blast

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar/Lamongan

Amrozi, the only suspect in custody for the Bali terrorist
attacks so far, has named Imam Samudra, alias Kudama or Fatih, as
one of the masterminds of the Oct. 12 bombing that killed more
than 190 people and left more 300 others injured, mostly
foreigners.

In Jakarta, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda on
Wednesday branded Samudra and Hambali, both Indonesian citizens
still at large, as members of the Jamaah Islamiyah, a regional
organization the United Nations recently put on its list of
terrorist groups.

Amrozi told National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar Wednesday
that he met Samudra several times in the Central Java city of
Surakarta since 2000. Police authorities are now searching for
Samudra.

Briefing the press after a meeting with Amrozi for more than
one hour at the Bali police headquarters Wednesday, Da'i said
Samudra asked Amrozi and his brother Ali Imron to buy explosives
for bomb attacks across Indonesia, including bombings in the
Ambon islands and the Bali explosion.

Da'i said that following their face-to-face meetings in
Surakarta, Samudra and Amrozi communicated by SMS mobile phone
messages.

Present at the meetings were Ali Imron, Dul Matin, Umar,
another Umar and Idris. All five were among the 10 people
including Samudra now wanted by the police.

When the plan to bomb Bali was made, Samudra promised Amrozi
a vehicle and money. Several days later, Amrozi received through
Idris a total of between Rp 47 million and Rp 50 million in
rupiah, as well as Malaysian ringgit, U.S. dollars and
Singaporean dollars.

"The bomb target in Bali was arranged during the last talks
(at the Klewer traditional market in Surakarta) when (Samudra)
promised money to purchase bombs and a vehicle," Da'i said.

Da'i grilled Amrozi himself for more than one hour in a room
with windows, allowing scores of journalists to look on. The
suspect, handcuffed and wearing shorts and a blue T-shirt with
the word "detainee" in bold letters across the back, appeared
relaxed.

Da'i said Amrozi bought all explosive materials from the Tidar
Kimia chemical shop on Jl. Tidar in the East Java capital of
Surabaya owned by Sylvester Tendean.

Police earlier said Amrozi told them he bought various
chemical compounds, including calcium chlorate and aluminum
powder, both essential for making bombs, from the shop.

However, investigators and explosive experts have said the
high-powered bombs that devastated Bali also contained RDX. The
police could not yet determine who supplied the RDX.

Da'i said the police would soon disseminate the picture of
Samudra publicly. "We ask the people to help us find him. We are
tracking him down," he added.

The police chief was confident that Samudra and his
accomplices were still in Indonesia. "We have blocked their
possible ways to get out of the country."

Amrozi, 40, described Samudra as a brilliant guy, fluent in
English, Indonesian, and Arabic languages. "He (Samudra) is much
younger than me," he was quoted by Da'i as saying.

Amrozi, a junior high school graduate, has admitted bringing
bomb-making materials and his L-300 minivan to Bali seven days
before the blast but denied assembling the bomb. He also said
that he was not in Bali when the bombs exploded.

Da'i said Amrozi came to Bali on Oct. 6 and met several
people, including Idris and Umar. He stayed in three places on
the island.

According to Da'i, Amrozi once asked where the van filled with
bomb was. "But Imam Samudra told him it was not his business any
more," the police chief added.

Da'i described Amrozi as "a mischievous young man" who
increasingly came under the influence of hardline Islamic
preachers while working as a laborer in Malaysia and also in
Indonesia.

The police chief said Amrozi's elder brother Mukhlas, also
known as Ali Gufron, was the first man to steer him along the
path of religious fundamentalism. He said the police would travel
to Malaysia and Singapore to try to trace Mukhlas.

Zakaria, leader of the Al-Islam Islamic boarding school in the
East Java town of Lamongan where Amrozi was arrested a week ago,
complained on Wednesday that he was prevented by the police from
directly meeting with the suspect in Bali.

"Actually, I eagerly wanted to talk to him. But I don't know
why the police prohibited me from doing so until I returned home
(from Bali)," he told The Jakarta Post in Lamongan, East Java.

The police released Zakaria on Friday after quizzing him as a
witness for his possible links with Amrozi or the Bali blast and
the finding of a cache of firearms and ammunition in a jungle
near their village.

In another development, Amrozi has officially appointed
several lawyers from the East Java branch of the Muslim Lawyers
Team (TPM) to defend him.

The legal team, comprising Suyanto, M. Syaaf, M. Yasin and
Agus Supangkat, had a meeting with their client on Tuesday
afternoon, said Ahmad Mihdan, a member of Jakarta TPM, currently
representing elderly cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Mihdan said discussions were underway about the possibility of
senior lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution and his colleagues, also
defending Ba'asyir, to join the legal team of Amrozi.