Police on the lookout for five men over terrorism links

Yogita Tahilramani and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

North Sumatra Police are still on the lookout for five Singaporeans who entered Medan via Belawan seaport in January and are allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda global terrorist network.

Even though police believe that the five men have fled from Medan, travel bans have been slapped on them, North Sumatra Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"We have made them the subject of travel bans," Amrin said.

He added that police were simply following up on recent statements made by Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong claiming that the five men carrying Singaporean passports had entered Medan, and that one of them reportedly had plans to hijack a plane heading to Singapore from Indonesia.

Amrin identified the five men, reportedly in their late 30s and 40s, as Ishak Sio Muhamed Noohu, Muhamed Hasan bin Syainuddin, Masselamat bin Kastari, Husaini bin Ismail, and Muhammad Rasyid bin Zainal Abidin.

"We have spread photographs of Masselamat bin Kastari in and around Polonia Medan Airport in anticipation of possible disturbances that could be caused by this man. We have received reports that he is the man with the plans to hijack a plane," Amrin said.

Resta Dison of the Bahagia Express travel agency in Medan explained that the five men entered Medan on Jan. 9 this year aboard the Bahagia Express ferry from Singapore. Amrin added that four of the five ended up staying at the Darma Deli hotel on Jl. Balai Kota. The room was booked under the name of Muhammad Rasyid.

"The men checked out of the hotel at 11:45 a.m. on Jan. 10. We have handed over the entire police report on this matter to National Police Headquarters," Amrin said.

Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew caused a furor in Indonesia last February, particularly among radical Muslim groups, when he stated that Singapore remained at risk from a terrorist attack because leaders of regional extremist cells were still at large in Indonesia.

The Straits Times then reported that the former Singaporean prime minister likened terrorist groups to multinational corporations with a presence in several countries. He said that despite Singapore's arrest of 13 suspects with alleged links to al-Qaeda, it was still in danger because the terrorist masterminds remained free.

Singapore has arrested 13 suspected members of a Southeast Asian Muslim group, Jamaah Islamiyah, in December last year, but the group is allegedly still a serious threat to the region.

Singaporean officials have linked Jamaah Islamiyah to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, and said its members planned to bomb Western embassies, U.S. Navy ships and other targets in Singapore.

Malaysian Police had earlier revealed that Jamaah Islamiyah was introduced into Malaysia by the late, Surakarta-born Abdullah Achmad Sungkar. The embryo of Jamaah, reportedly better known as Darul Islam (DI/TII), earlier proclaimed the Islamic Nation of Indonesia (NII) on Aug. 7, 1949 in West Java. Abdullah's tasks included recruiting Muslim youths, and sending them off to riot- torn areas, including Poso in Central Sulawesi and Ambon in Maluku to fight against Christians. Abdullah died in 1999.

Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who has been grilled by Indonesian police over his alleged links to terrorist groups, took over the leadership of the group, along with his lieutenant Hambali, an Indonesian Muslim cleric wanted by both Malaysian and Indonesian Police for his alleged involvement in global terrorism.