Seven prevented from reaching RP militant camp

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police in North Sulawesi province said on Sunday they had prevented seven Indonesians from trying to illegally enter the southern Philippines to join a Muslim militant camp there.

The seven men were later sent home on Saturday after being questioned, North Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Jhon Lalo was quoted by Antara as saying in the provincial capital of Manado.

He said the people in question were from Lampung province, Padang in North Sumatra, Ambon in Maluku and several other cities and towns on Java island.

Details of their identity were not given.

Lalo said the suspects were rounded up on Friday while waiting for a ship in Tahuna, a town in Sangihe Talaud (Satal) islands, to carry them to the southern Philippines through the porous maritime border between the two countries.

The arrests followed tip-offs from local residents who were suspicious of their presence, he added.

Lalo said the seven men intended to go to the Abubakar camp, a paramilitary training camp for militants in Mindanao, for what they claimed was a "religious service" or a visit to a mosque there.

"But because their reason given for visiting the area was for a religious service and we know that the camp conducts training in terrorist tactics, we prevented them from traveling and sent them back to their respective places of origin," he said.

The arrests were aimed at preventing unexpected problems, Lalo added.

The Abubakar camp is said to be linked to the regional Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group that is affiliated to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

But Lalo said there was no hard evidence that the seven men were members of JI, which has been blamed for a series of bombings in the Southeast Asian region, including the Bali bombings in October 2002 that claimed 202 lives, and Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel that claimed 12 lives.

The North Sulawesi Police said the seven had stayed together with eight other people who had also been detained at the Manado Police station.

The eight men were also released after being questioned and are currently conducting religious sermons in mosques in the province, he added.

A local newspaper reported on Saturday that the eight members of Jamaah Tabligh (a group that conducts sermons) were rounded up separately on Friday before the arrest of their seven colleagues.