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.