Friends of Taufik head toward RI, police say
Abdul Khalik and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday that several friends of detained terrorist suspect Taufik Rifki have left their hideouts in the Philippines for Indonesia.
"Several of Rifki's friends have fled to Indonesia and we are focusing our efforts on locating their whereabouts," said Da'i.
Taufik, the alleged moneyman of regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), is under military custody in Manila, Philippines.
Da'i did not mention the exact number or names of Taufik's friends.
"That is what we intended to find out from Taufik when we sent two of our officers to the Philippines yesterday," Da'i said.
The National Police have sent two officers to question Taufik in Manila to look into his involvement in a series of terrorist attacks in the country, including the deadly Bali bombings last October 2002 and the JW Marriott Hotel attack last Oct. 5, 2003.
Earlier, Taufik had told Indonesian diplomats in Manila that he was a JI member and served as treasurer of one of the network's cells.
Born in Surakarta, Central Java on Aug. 9, 1974, Taufik along with nine other Indonesians entered the Philippines illegally in Aug. 1998 and met with another seven Indonesian in Cotabato City.
The group then went to Udaydiyyah camp, around three-hours drive from Cotbato, to join military training.
According to Taufik, there were around 30 Indonesians in the camp including himself and those who traveled with him. He confirmed also that the late Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi was one of the instructors at the training site.
Al-Ghozi, another convicted Indonesian terrorist, was shot dead by the Philippine police.
Meanwhile, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika warned Friday that terrorism was still a major threat for Bali due to the island's international stature and the fact that four known terrorists -- including the chief bomb-maker of the group responsible for the 2002 bombings -- were still at large.
"There is always a possibility of another attack," he said on the sidelines of his meeting with ten representatives of the island's tourism industry.
"Especially because Bali is a renowned international tourist destination. Any attack on the island will have an influence both nationally and internationally," Pastika explained.
Moreover, he continued, four known terrorists suspects -- namely Dul Matin, Umar Besar, and the Malaysian nationals Azahari and Noordin Moh Top -- had still managed to elude the police's dragnet. All of them had been involved in the bombings of the island's prime tourist destination, Kuta, in which at least 202 people were killed, mostly foreigners.
Pastika noted that some sort of psychological connection bound the fugitives to Bali. The connection was established because they had bombed the island and because Bali was the place where the other main perpetrators had been brought to trial and sentenced.
This psychological connection, according to Pastika, made it highly possible that they would again attack Bali.
The police have arrested 34 people in connection with the Bali bombings. As of Friday, three have been sentenced to death while 26 others received prison terms, ranging from three years to life imprisonment.
"We hoped the public will play an important role, responding to this threat by not becoming complacent, but by increasing their alertness and establishing close, regular contact with the security forces," Pastika said.