JI infighting canceled embassy bombing, Roche testifies
JI infighting canceled embassy bombing, Roche testifies
Jamie Tarabay, Associated Press/Perth, Australia
Alleged Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) chief Abu Bakar Ba'asyir personally called off a planned bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, a British-born Islamic convert charged with plotting the attack told police.
The testimony from terror suspect Jack Roche was further evidence of Ba'asyir's control of the Southeast Asian, al-Qaeda- linked terror group. In Jakarta custody suspected of terror links, Ba'asyir has denied involvement in JI.
Roche also claimed he went to the U.S. consulate in Sydney and told authorities there, "I've met Osama bin Laden and they (al- Qaeda) have targets in mind," he said in taped interviews with police.
He said the embassy directed him to Australia's spy agency, where he was not even able to get anybody to listen to his claims.
In videotaped interviews with police that led to his arrest in November 2002 and played on Wednesday in court, Roche said infighting between Australian members of JI and the group's operations chief Hambali led to the collapse of the bombing plot.
Abdulrahman Ayub and his twin brother Abdulrahim Ayub, widely believed to have headed the terror group's Australian arm, were so incensed at Hambali's interference that they rang Ba'asyir to complain, prompting Ba'asyir to cancel the plot, Roche told detectives.
Roche has pleaded innocent to a charge of plotting to bomb the Israeli Embassy. He faces a maximum 25-year prison sentence if convicted.
In taped excerpts played in Perth District Court this week, Roche has repeatedly named Ba'asyir as the head of al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian terror affiliate. He has also described how the Ayub brothers told him to travel to Malaysia to meet Hambali in early 2000.
Hambali then sent Roche - 52, an Australian citizen who was born in Hull, England - to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he briefly met Osama bin Laden and underwent explosives training, the court heard.
When he took the stand later on Wednesday to testify in his own defense Roche identified his Pakistani contact, as Khalid Shaik Mohammed, believed to be al-Qaeda's No. 3 and one of the organizers of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. He was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 and like Hambali is now in U.S. custody.
He was due to return to the stand on Thursday.
While in Afghanistan, Roche was told to set up an al-Qaeda cell in Australia and launch attacks against Israeli targets. Hambali gave him US$8,000 to fund the attacks, he said.
On his return, Roche said he informed the Ayub twins about his plans. He said they were "miffed" at Hambali for interfering in Australian operations.
The twins were so angry they complained directly to Ba'asyir, Roche said. Ba'asyir was re-arrested in April on the day he finished serving an 18-month prison term for minor immigration offenses. Police in Indonesia say they have new evidence placing him at the head of Jamaah Islamiyah.
Ba'asyir asked Roche to visit Indonesia to discuss the plot in July 2000, Roche said.
He told Roche "whatever Hambali's asked you to do, just carry on doing that ... whatever it happens to be."
But he said the Ayub brothers "must have whinged to Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, because a few days later I got a call from him telling me to stop whatever I was doing."
By that time, Roche said he'd started "to sober up from this whole experience" and tried to tell Australian spies about the plot, but was ignored. "I couldn't seem to get past the front desk," Roche said.