'Hambali planned to launder money'

'Hambali planned to launder money'

CAMBODIA: Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday his government had foiled an attempt by arrested terrorist suspect Hambali to launder money in Cambodia to fund attacks.

Hun Sen said the funds would have been in the form of humanitarian assistance, but he did not name the Cambodian aid organization which would have received the money.

Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was arrested in Thailand last month. Now in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location, he is believed to have served as al-Qaeda's operations chief in Southeast Asia.

Om Yentieng, a senior adviser to Hun Sen, recently said that Hambali's name surfaced following the closure in May of Umm Al Qura, a Saudi-funded religious organization in Cambodia. --AP