Police set for Ja'far challenge

SURABAYA: The National Police are ready to challenge a pretrial motion lodged by Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib over his arrest.

Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Tuesday the arrest of Ja'far at Juanda Airport here on May 4 had complied with legal procedures.

"He (Ja'far) has been detained since then, after thorough consideration for the sake of the investigation," Saleh said on the sidelines of his visit with participants of the National Resilience Institute course.

He said investigators had never thought of meeting the demands of Ja'far's lawyers for a suspension of their client's detention thus far.

"Even the President cannot intervene in the investigators' decision to keep Ja'far in police custody." -- JP