Seven prevented from reaching RP militant camp

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.