Police question six in Marriott probe
Police question six in Marriott probe
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Semarang/Surakarta
The six terrorist suspects arrested in Sukoharjo, Central Java on
Wednesday morning were involved in both the deadly Bali bombings
in October 2002 and the JW Marriott Hotel attack on Aug. 5, 2003,
police authorities said.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said in Semarang,
Central Java on Thursday that the six played a central role in
planning and preparing the two attacks.
The six have been identified as Musta'im alias Widi alias
Wadi, Yunus, Bejo, Adam, Widadi and Mar'atus Shalihah, the wife
of house owner Sudadi, where the suspects were arrested on
Wednesday morning.
Over 200 people were killed and some 300 others were injured
in the Bali bombings, while the Marriott attack killed 12 people
and injured over 100 others.
Da'i said interrogations also revealed that the six were
involved in the planning of the United Nations building terrorist
attack in 2003.
He expressed optimism that the arrest would greatly help
police authorities to capture the country's most wanted terrorist
suspects -- Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top --
who are believed to be still in the country.
"We hope they can lead us to Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh
Top because we believe they (the six suspects) have cooperated to
launch both attacks," said Da'i.
Both Azahari and Noordin, who are still at large, are wanted
for their roles in the Bali bombing in 2002 and the Marriott
attack in 2003.
In Jakarta, police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno
Landung Sudjono said authorities found several guns and dozens of
bullets with the arrested terrorist suspects.
He said the six were now being questioned at the Central Java
Police headquarters to find their accomplices and their exact
role in the attacks.
Neither Da'i nor Suyitno said whether the six were members of
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the al-Qaeda-linked terror group, which is
believed to be behind all the major bomb attacks across the
country.
Suyitno said police managed to capture the six following
intensive interrogation of a man identified as Dahlan who was
arrested in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on Sunday.
Police director for the Antiterror Division, Brig. Gen.
Pranowo, said Dahlan was now on the way to Police Headquarters in
Jakarta.
He said Dahlan was connected to a man called Adi Suryana, who
was arrested in Surabaya, East Java on January 9 on suspicion of
terror plots, including a plan to bomb the National Police and
the Jakarta Police headquarters.
Adi is a member of an alleged terrorist organization called
Group 12, which police suspect have planned all the bomb attacks
that hit the country in the last four years.
"Dahlan is one of the members of the group. We have arrested
all 12 in several cities across the country," said Pranowo.
Meanwhile, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced three
accomplices of the Marriott bombers to seven years in prison each
for storing and transporting explosives used in the Aug. 5
attack.