Another key suspect in Bali bombings
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police announced on Monday that they had arrested another suspect in the deadly Bali bombing that killed over 200 people and injured some 350 others last October.
National Police Detectives chief Insp. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng told reporters here that a man named Idris, also known by the aliases Johny Hendrawan, Jajang, Muhamad Iksan, Gembrot, and Gunawan, was apprehended in Medan, North Sumatra on May 12.
"We arrested one of the key executors of the Bali bombings in Medan on May 12, namely Idris," Mappaseng said at that National Police Headquarters Monday.
Police investigators have identified Idris as one of the five key planners who executed the fatal terrorist attack, believed to be the biggest after the World Trade Center (WTC) tragedy in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Other alleged members of the execution team were Imam Samudra, Ali Imron, Arnasan with aliases of Jimmy or Iqbal, and Arnasan alias Fay alias Ihsa. Police have arrested Imam Samudra and Ali Imron, but two others, identified as Jimmy and Fay were killed in the bombings.
"Idris's role in the bombings was to provide the means of transportation and logistics for the bombers. He is also the operator of the cell phone (to detonate the bombs)," said Mapasseng.
Mappaseng said Idris was still counting the money he and his group obtained from a brutal robbery at Lippo bank in Medan, North Sumatra in May.
In the robbery, three security guards were shot dead. Idris and his group managed to take away Rp 113 million from the bank.
Idris was nabbed following the arrest of three suspects in a robbery case in a money changer company in the nearby town of Dumai.
Mapasseng said that the group was known to be part of a terrorist network called Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), believed to be behind a string of bomb attacks across the country since 1999.
"In their statement before police investigators, they (the group members) claimed that they did not commit a robbery, but a fa'i," said Mappaseng referring to an Arabic term used by JI members to raise funds to finance the group's activities during a state of war.
"Upon the arrest, the group was planning to rob another bank in Pekanbaru to finance their activities," Mappaseng said.
Despite the arrest of Idris, Mappaseng said police would continue their investigation to track down other bombing suspects who were still at large -- Hambali, Zulkarnain, a Malaysian scholar Dr. Azhari, Nurdin Mahtop, and Dulmatin alias Joko Pitono.
"We are also heightening our alertness to prevent possible attacks launched by those suspects who are at large, to show their existence to the public," said Mappaseng, declining to go into details.
Police also believe that Idris was also behind the Christmas bombings at a number of churches in Pekanbaru in 2000. He is the son-in-law of Datok Rajo Ame, the leader of the Pekanbaru wakalah, a JI term to define a regional area under mantiqi which usually covers a country. Police arrested Datok Rajo Ame on May 9 and charged him with masterminding the Christmas bombings in Pekanbaru.
"We have sent Idris to Bali for further legal proceedings," said Mappaseng.