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.