Hambali's henchmen may still be here: Chavalit
Hambali's henchmen may still be here: Chavalit
Agencies, Bangkok/Sandakan, Malaysia
Thailand on Wednesday reluctantly accepted that Asian terrorist suspect Hambali's henchmen may still be in the country after his arrest last week.
"It's most likely that some of them are still around," Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters.
Chavalit's comments are a climb down for the government after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra insisted on Monday that Hambali's network had been wiped out in the country. However, critics dismissed his claim as an attempt to show the world, especially tourists and investors, that Thailand is a safe place.
Hambali, the alleged operations chief of the al-Qaeda-linked regional group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), was captured on Aug. 11 in the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bangkok, by Thai forces and the CIA. He was handed over to U.S. authorities and flown to an undisclosed location where he is being interrogated.
Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, is believed to have come into the country more than a month ago with a fake Spanish passport from a northern border crossing, apparently from neighboring Laos.
"As everyone is aware when a man of that importance comes, he would not come on his own. There must be followers with him," Chavalit said.
He said investigations will reveal how many of his accomplices are still here.
The Bangkok Post, a respected English daily, said on Monday that five accomplices are on the loose in Thailand.
It quoted unidentified intelligence sources as saying that Hambali's interrogation revealed that he was plotting an attack on the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Bangkok from Oct. 20 to 21. The meeting will bring together at least 20 world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush.
Hambali is the suspected mastermind of a string of suicide and other bombings in Asia, including the Oct. 12, 2002, nightclub destruction in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 people, and the Aug. 5 attack at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12.
Hambali's arrest took place hours after the Thai government passed two antiterrorism laws by decree without parliament's approval.
On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court accepted a petition to review the legality of the two decrees, which critics call a blow to democracy.
One of the decrees allows the arrest and trial of foreign suspects. The other amends money laundering laws to permit the state to freeze the assets of suspected terrorists. Punishment ranges from 20 years in jail to death.
Separately, the mother-in-law of Hambali said on Wednesday she was shocked when she saw a television report that he and her daughter had been arrested in Thailand.
Salmah Abdullah, 67, the mother of Hambali's wife Noralwizah, said she was desperate to see her daughter, who is now in detention in Malaysia.
"It was a shock to me," she told a reporter who visited her in her dilapidated house in Keramat Dua village near Beluran in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island. "I am now worried sick about her safety."
Salmah said she first met Hambali some seven years ago when she took her husband for medical treatment in the capital Kuala Lumpur. They stayed with their daughter in Hambali's house.
"Hambali was good to us," she said.
"In fact I did not know that he was my son-in-law until we met and were formally introduced by my daughter."
Salmah said Hambali apologized to her and the family for not informing them earlier about the marriage.
After the death of her husband, she next met Hambali when he and her daughter visited Beluran, a coastal town 140 kilometers from Sandakan in the east coast of Sabah, some five years ago.
Noralwizah had left Beluran for the southern Johor state in 1990 to take up religious studies and apparently met Hambali at the Luqmanul Hakiem religious school.
The school was founded by elderly Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, JI's alleged spiritual leader, who is on trial in Jakarta for treason.
Salmah said she was longing to see her daughter, who is being held under Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA) after being handed over by Thai security forces. Hambali is in United States custody at a secret location.
Salmah said police had not yet interviewed her about her daughter's activities, adding that she had been unwell since seeing news of the arrest on television.
Noralwizah is the youngest of her three children.
Salmah, who lives in poverty, said the last time she heard from her daughter was three years ago. "She wrote a letter to me. But I cannot remember the contents," she said.