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.