Police link Bali bomb suspect to detained cleric

Police link Bali bomb suspect to detained cleric

The Jakarta Post, Kuta/Jakarta

Amrozi, the only suspect so far in the Oct. 12 Bali terrorist
attacks, told police investigators on Monday that he was a
student of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who is being detained for his
alleged role in the 2000 church bombings and a reported plot to
kill President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

However, the investigators said they did not have any evidence
linking Ba'asyir, whose move to annul the arrest was quashed by
the South Jakarta District Court, to the Bali terrorist attacks,
which killed almost 190 people and injured over 300 others,
mostly foreigners.

"We have not found any evidence to support allegations that
Ba'asyir ordered or gave his blessings to the bombings. There is
a missing link that still exists between the bombing and
Ba'asyir," Ins. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, head of the
multinational investigation team, said on Monday.

Amrozi told police investigators that he was close to Ba'asyir
not only when the two were in Malaysia but also when they
returned to Indonesia after the fall of former president Soeharto
in 1998, Pastika said.

Amrozi also said that during his stay in Malaysia he had
attended religious lectures given by Ba'asyir several times.

"Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is a prominent cleric, who has many
followers, and one of them is Amrozi. He said he had picked
Ba'asyir up several times at Ngruki, Surakarta, and accompanied
him to the Al-Islam pesantren. Amrozi claimed that the last time
he met Ba'asyir was six months ago," Pastika said.

According to Pastika, Ba'asyir was one of the founders of
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in Malaysia. JI does not exist in
Indonesia, it only exists in Malaysia, Pastika said.

"In Indonesia, Majelis Mujahiddin Indonesia (MMI) was
established by Ba'asyir. JI and MMI are different and their names
are different, but the ideology and teachings of these two
organizations are quite similar."

Singapore and Malaysia have said that Ba'asyir, 64, is the
spiritual leader of JI, which is believed to have links to Osama
bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Pastika said 10 people were suspected of carrying out the
bombing, all of whom were Indonesians. There was no evidence so
far of foreign involvement, he said.

"We are conducting a search for them in Indonesia because the
news came out fast and they all fled," he said when asked if the
suspects were believed to be still in the country.

"Amrozi said he and his group wanted to kill as many Americans
as possible," Pastika said.

"After he heard that a lot of Australians were killed
(instead), he said he was unhappy," said Pastika, adding that
Amrozi showed no remorse over his actions.

Pastika described Amrozi as a calm, hard man, who gave the
impression that he was not afraid of the legal consequences he
could face if he was convicted.

Investigators took two more witnesses to Bali from East Java
on Monday. One witness, Taksir, was picked up on Sunday from his
house in Tenggulun in the Solokuro district of Lamongan regency.

Taksir allegedly helped Amrozi take out several items from the
Mitsubishi L-300 minivan, which was later used in the bombing.

"The minivan was stripped of its air conditioner, cassette
deck and back seats to minimize its loss. Apparently the vehicle
was being prepared for the bombing. Taksir had bought the air
conditioner," Pastika said.

Taksir's account could play a vital role in proving that the
minivan was being prepared for the bombing operation.

Taksir, as well as the parts taken out of the minivan, were
taken to Bali Police Headquarters at about 4:00 p.m. An
investigator said that Taksir ran a car repair service from his
house.

The second witness is reportedly a barber, who cut Amrozi's
hair twice within the week after the sketches of the suspects
were released.

"His testimony will be substantial in demonstrating that after
we released the sketches, Amrozi had tried to avoid arrest by
changing his appearance," Pastika said.

Meanwhile, police in East Java found two plastic pipes filled
with bullets, which were buried in a forest near Amrozi's home
village in Tenggulun on Monday.

A bomb squad examined the pipes, which were approximately one
meter long and 30 centimeters in diameter. Police are questioning
a man who is believed to have seen the pipes being buried.

In Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on
Monday that the bombing had been planned in Surakarta, Central
Java.

"Before carrying out the bombings in Bali, Amrozi held four
meetings in Surakarta in early September," Da'i told the
legislature in Jakarta. He did not say if Bashir or his followers
were present at the meetings.