JI members wanted chaos on Thailand
JI members wanted chaos on Thailand
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
Four Thais accused of belonging to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group plotted to launch simultaneous attacks on embassies and tourist spots in the kingdom in June, a witness at their trial said on Friday.
In testimony continued from the case's first hearing earlier this month, a police officer who arrested the suspects told the Thai Criminal court that the four along with Singaporean suspect Arifin bin Ali wanted to cause chaos.
Three of the accused, Islamic religious teacher Maisuri Haji Abdullah, his son Mayahi Haji Doloh and medical doctor Waemahadi Wae-dao, were arrested in June in the southern Muslim-majority province of Narathiwat.
The fourth man, Samarn Wakaji, surrendered to authorities in early July.
"Doctor Waemahadi Wae-dao fixed the targets in the provinces and assigned Samarn Wakaji to check the targets, while Arifin fixed and inspected the targets in Bangkok," Special Branch police colonel Peerapong Duongamporn said.
"Samarn and Arifin planned to drive the cars to carry the bombs to the targets, which were to be detonated at the same time on June 6 in order to create the maximum amount of chaos," he said.
Arifin, also known as John Wong Ah Hung, is alleged to be a senior member of the Singaporean wing of JI. He was detained in the kingdom in May and then repatriated to Singapore, but Thailand has since asked for his extradition.
The four men stand accused of planning to bomb the embassies of Australia, Britain, Israel, Singapore and the United States, as well Bangkok's backpacker district Khao San Road, the Nana red-light district and the resorts of Phuket and Pattaya.
Peerapong told the court that Waemahadi promised Arifin he could find a bomb-making expert who was an ex-member of the almost-defunct separatist group the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO). He said he could also procure the necessary ingredients for bomb-making.
He also alleged that the four suspects had sought advice from Arifin on setting up a chapter of the JI network in Thailand with Waemahadi as its head.
"They agreed that Waemahadi should be the leader of JI here since he was prepared in terms of finance, intelligence and vision," the officer said.
U.S. intelligence had furthermore linked Waemahadi to JI, he alleged.
"U.S. intelligence indicated that Waemahadi made telephone calls to Dubai companies housed in a building owned by an al- Qaeda associate," the officer said without elaborating further.
The militant JI group is seen as the Southeast Asian branch of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and has been blamed for last year's Bali bombings and an array of other deadly attacks.
Peerapong said the suspects and Arifin had first met in Bangkok in mid-2001 and Samarn helped the Singaporean obtain a fake Thai identification card to facilitate border crossings to and from Malaysia.
The prosecution expects to call a further 43 witnesses while defense lawyers say they will produce 20 witnesses during the trial, which is expected to run for years before a verdict is reached.
The next hearing, during which Peerapong will be cross- examined by the defense, is scheduled for Dec. 29 and 30.
Thai police said after their arrests that Maisuri and his son admitted belonging to JI and confessed to the bomb plots, while Waemahadi confessed to providing fake passports to JI members. Their lawyer denies the confessions were made.