Indonesian charged with assisting suspected terrorists
Tiarma Siboro and Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An Indonesian man, whom the FBI named as a contact person for airline hijacker Mohammad Atta, was arrested and charged with helping to obtain a fake driver's license for another man identified as a contact for Osama bin Laden, AP reported on Tuesday.
A criminal complaint filed on Monday charged Agus Budiman with helping Mohammad Bin Nasser Belfas obtain a Virginia driver's license.
Agus appeared before a U.S. magistrate in the Washington suburb on Monday.
Agus and Belfas are among 370 names included on a detailed FBI list of people sought for questioning in the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The list was released last month by Finnish banking authorities.
Agus is identified on the list as a U.S. contact person for Atta, the presumed ringleader of the 19 hijackers. Belfas is identified as a contact person for bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks. No charges against Belfas have been made public, and his whereabouts could not be obtained.
According to the criminal complaint, Agus and Belfas came to the United States from Hamburg, Germany, in October 2000.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that Atta and two other hijackers were part of a terrorist cell that operated in Hamburg and the United States.
The complaint alleges Agus helped Belfas obtain a Virginia ID card by certifying on Nov. 4, 2000 that he and Belfas both lived at an Arlington, Virginia, address. Neither of the men actually lived there, the complaint said, but Belfas later used the ID card to obtain a Virginia driver's license.
Agus appeared in the same federal courthouse on Monday where prosecutors obtained guilty pleas from two men arrested in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
In Jakarta, deputy spokesman of the National Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said police could not give immediate information about Agus Budiman.
"We have contacted Virginia's Interpol office and they have asked us to wait until tomorrow," he said.
When contacted separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wahid Supriyadi said he was only informed about the matter on Tuesday afternoon and has tried to contact the country's representatives in the United States.
"Our officials there have checked every detention center but could not locate Agus Budiman. We only found those detained for immigration violations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire," he said.
Wahid added that the government would do its best to "protect Agus' rights and ask for a guarantee from the U.S. government that he would be treated fairly in court."
A spokesman of a Muslim group claimed that he had never heard of Agus Budiman.
"If he (Agus Budiman) had been actively involved in any radical groups here, he must have used other names," said Al Chaidar from Darul Islam, adding that the name Agus was not familiar.
Al Chaidar said it was not easy to "get involved and be trusted by people from the Middle East" and that only a few Muslim groups in the country were able to establish links with people from international Islamic movements like Al-Qaida.
"Very few. Other than Darul Islam, there is just the Syiah group of Illiyah faction."
Meanwhile, an Indonesian student belonging to the Association of Indonesian Students in the United States (PERMIAS) told The Jakarta Post that Agus had a link with the Arab community in Germany.
The student, who requested anonymity, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Tuesday that he had met Agus about a year ago. Agus had later introduced him to an Arabian man called Belfas. He did not explain where and how they came to meet.
"At that time, Belfas, who looked 40 years old, said that he was the chairman of an Islamic organization in Germany," he said.
According to the student, who is still studying at Southern University, Agus was enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis.
The student said Agus, around 30 years old, was the elder brother of his former roommate named Faisal. In Indonesia, they both lived in Jakarta. They once lived in Bandung, West Java.
He said he had lost contact with Faisal, Agus, and Belfas. "Belfast has reportedly returned to Germany," he said.
"The FBI is intensifying its investigation on other Indonesians believed to have links with Belfas and Agus," he said.
Asked if he knew that Agus was being tried at Alexandria, Virginia district court, the student said that "the issue is a sensitive one among Indonesian students and that the trial should be held behind closed doors."
"But actually I don't have any idea about whether Agus will be tried here or not," he said.