Pakistan to release four arrested Indonesians students: RI police
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Pakistani authorities have promised to release four of six Indonesian students detained in the South Asian country for alleged involvement in acts of terror, a top police officer said on Friday.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar told reporters that the two remaining students, including Rusman Gunawan alias Gun Gun, the younger brother of suspected terrorist chief Hambali, would remain in Pakistani police custody for further questioning,
"We secured this commitment from the Pakistani's after a team we dispatched there managed to meet the students during their brief visit. Two of them will continue to be investigated," Da'i said at National Police Headquarters.
The students due to be released are David Pintarto, Furqon Abdullah, Ilham Sopandi and Mohammad Anwar, while Mohamad Saifuddin would remain stay along with Gun Gun.
According to Da'i, the Pakistani police expect to dig up more information on Hambali from Gun Gun and Saifuddin.
Gun Gun was arrested at a Karachi University on Sept. 1 following a tip-off from U.S. investigators questioning his elder brother, Hambali, at an undisclosed location.
Gun Gun's arrest was followed by the arrest of 18 other students, five of whom are Indonesians.
Hambali, a native of the West Java town of Cianjur, who real name is Encep Nurjaman, was arrested by Thai and U.S. authorities in Ayuthaya, north of Bangkok, in mid-August. He is believed to be the top operative of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), an organization which has been put on the United Nations' list of terrorist groups.
Hambali is wanted by Indonesian police as his name has been repeatedly mentioned by a number of terror suspects currently in police custody. He has been linked to the Christmas Eve bombings in 2000 which killed at least 24 people and last year's Bali bombings which claimed 202 lives, mostly foreigners.
Da'i said he would leave for the U.S. on Monday. He added that during his American trip, he would reiterate his request for access to Hambali.
"I will take this opportunity to ask for the access (to question Hambali in person)," he said.
Time news magazine, citing a regional intelligence official, reported in its Monday's edition that Hambali was being detained at the U.S.-British air base on Britain's remote Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia.
The magazine, quoting from a copy of Hambali's confession, also reported that the Osama bin Laden-led terrorist network al- Qaeda, had sent him US$30,000 to fund the Bali bombings. Pleased by the "success" of these bombings, the network reportedly sent another $100,000 after the blasts to support the families of the arrested Bali bombing suspects and to finance other attacks.
Hambali said some of the money could have been used for the bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on Aug. 5, which claimed 12 people, the magazine said.
Da'i will be in the U.S. for a meeting with investigators from the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and officials from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
"The meeting has long been in the planning but it has been repeatedly delayed," he said, adding that the meeting was to discuss such topics as training cooperation between the U.S. and Indonesian police.