Embassy bomber was paid in Aussie dollars, court told
Embassy bomber was paid in Aussie dollars, court told
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta
An Indonesian militant testified on Tuesday that he was paid in Australian dollars to buy materials used in a deadly bomb attack in Canberra's embassy in Jakarta.
Ahmad Hassan told the court that he had been given A$9,700 (US$7,450) to help create the device that killed 11 people in September 2004.
Hassan, who was testifying at the trial of another alleged bomber, Iwan Darmawan Mutho, said he was given the cash by another chief suspect, fugitive Malaysian Noordin Mohammed Top, apparently using the name Khalid as an alias.
The 29-year-old Mutho, also known as Rois, is accused of taking part in the plot that led to the bombing of the embassy.
Rois, an avowed member of a Muslim extremist group, is alleged to have worked with Noordin and fellow Malaysian terror suspect Azahari Husin to plan the attack.
"I was given by Khalid money in the amount of A$9,700 to buy materials and for operational funds," Hassan told the South Jakarta district court.
Hassan, who is also a defendant in the embassy bombing case, later described the materials as sulfur and calcium nitrate.
He also identified a picture of Noordin Mohammad Top as a man who "closely resembles" Khalid.
Prosecutors said Rois was also a deputy commander of a militant group called the Islamic State of Indonesia and had undergone training in a Muslim rebel camp in the southern Philippines.
The indictment said Rois originally met Noordin and Azahari in the first half of 2004 and that during one meeting in August, Azahari had told him of his intention to attack the embassy.
Azahari and Noordin, who have eluded police for three years, are also wanted for the key roles in several other attacks including the October 2002 Bali bombings and the bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriot hotel in August 2003.
The Bali bombings killed 202 mostly foreign holiday makers while the Marriott strike left 12 people dead. The three attacks have been blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah regional extremist network.
The trial was adjourned until next Tuesday.