Police scour jungle for more caches
Police scour jungle for more caches
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The bomb squad combed on Sunday the Bojonegoro teak forest
area in East Java to locate ammunition caches of terrorists that
are reportedly hidden there, while the antiterror squad continued
the manhunt for Noordin M. Top and other terrorists.
The move came after the police received information from
Nurkosim, a former treasurer and logistics manager of Malaysian
bombmaker Azahari bin Husin, who was killed during a raid last
week in East Java, that Azahari stored weapons and explosives in
12 different locations. But he said that he only remembered two
of them.
The police earlier combed the Ponorogo pine forests and did
find covered holes in a village at Ngrayun district as described
by Nurkosim, who left the Azahari group in 2000 as he disapproved
of its methods, but is currently in prison on extortion and fraud
charges.
Earlier reports said that the police planned to uncover the
holes in the two locations on Sunday, but until late in the day
there were no signs that they would proceed with the plan as
hundreds of people had gathered to see the locations.
A police officer who requested anonymity said there were many
reasons why the police had not uncovered the holes, one being
that Nurkosim was not sure whether the caches also contained
explosives.
Madiun Police chief Ondang Sutarsa said that the local police
were still waiting for instructions from the National Police in
Jakarta.
"I myself am still not sure about the information given by
Nurkosim," he said.
Azahari, one of Asia's most wanted men and a member of the al-
Qaeda linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network, was killed
during a shootout with police on Wednesday after they tracked him
to a bomb-filled hideaway in Batu, East Java.
But despite his death, officials warned that the terror threat
in the country remains alive particularly as Azahari's compatriot
remains at large and that many of the group's followers are still
capable of launching bomb attacks.
Ansja'ad Mbai, the head of the antiterrorism desk at the
Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and
Security Affairs, said over the weekend that extremists were
likely to operate in small groups, each capable of launching new
attacks.
"They are metamorphosing into small groups, and each is not
tied to a hierarchy," he said. "Each group can act independently
and interpret in what situation they can mount an attack or
decide on the targets."
Indeed, police found documents at Azahari's last hiding place
detailing plans for more attacks.
One report quoting a source at the police said that the
attacks could be carried out sometime during Christmas and New
Year.
The police continued their manhunt for Noordin and his
followers, combing various areas on Java as they went door-to-
door. Police questioned Lestari on Sunday, the wife of Subur
Sugiarto, believed to be an operative of Azahari and Noordin.
Subar had apparently fled following news of the Batu raid.
A security operation was also carried out in Bandungan, a
tourist spot in Ungaran, near Semarang, Central Java as policemen
combed hotels and karaoke bars in the area from Saturday evening
until Sunday.