Extremist suspect arrested

Extremist suspect arrested

MALAYSIA: Police have arrested a suspected member of a regional
terrorist network and seized bomb-making chemicals hidden on a
plantation in northern Malaysia, a government official said on
Thursday.

The suspect, Alias Osman, 36, a Malaysian, was arrested early
this month and is accused of being a member of Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI), an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group in Southeast Asia
accused in last year's Bali bombings and of plotting to blow up
U.S. and other embassies in Singapore, the official said.

Alias was arrested under the Internal Security Act, a law
allowing detention without trial, which is being used to detain
more than 70 other suspected extremists arrested in Malaysia
during the past two years.

The official said Alias led security officers to a cache of
chemicals and detonators buried on a plantation at Teluk Intan
Perak, about 200 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur. --AP

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Aglance-Myanmar-refugees
Muslim refugees repatriated
JP/11/ASEAN

Muslim refugees repatriated

MYANMAR: A little-noticed, decade-old refugee crisis involving
Myanmar and Bangladesh is close to being resolved, a UN official
said on Thursday.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that
234,190 people, or 94 percent of those who fled Myanmar's
northwestern Rakhine State to Bangladesh, had now returned home.

More than 250,000 Muslims fled to Bangladesh in 1992 to escape
alleged religious persecution by Myanmar's ruling junta.

Almost 90 percent of Myanmar's 42 million people, including
the dominant Burman ethnic group, are Buddhists. About 4 percent
are Muslims. The largest concentration of Muslims is in Rakhine
State. --AP

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Aglance-Thailand-harassment
Police chief files defamation case
JP/11/ASEAN

Police chief files defamation case

THAILAND: Police on Thursday were preparing summonses for three
Thai newspaper editors in a defamation case filed by the national
police chief over reports that suggested he sexually harassed a
woman reporter.

The editors of Banmuang, Manager and Phoo Chad Kuan
newspapers will be served with the summonses as soon as possible,
said Lt. Gen. Jongrak Suthanond, who is heading the
investigation. He did not give a date.

Under Thai law, the summonses would require the editors to
show up at a police station and acknowledge the complaint filed
on Wednesday by Gen. Sant Sarutanond. Once the editors
acknowledge the complaint, police have 45 days to ask prosecutors
to prepare a case.

Defamation and libel is punishable by a maximum two years in
prison and a fine of 200,000 baht (US$4,900). --AP