Fri, 28 Feb 2003

Slamet's dossier return to police

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau

Prosecutors said here on Thursday they had returned the case file of Mas Slamet bin Kastari, the alleged chief operative in Singapore of the Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist network, to police in Riau province for revision.

"Because the dossier does not meet the formal and material requirements, we returned it to investigators in the Riau Police headquarters for completion," spokesman for the provincial prosecutor's office Dippuan Siallagan told The Jakarta Post.

He declined to elaborate further, but underlined that if the dossier was not revised, Slamet and his lawyers could counter the evidence presented in the case file.

"If we press ahead with taking the case to trial with the existing evidence, the suspect could be acquitted of all charges," Dippuan said.

"Hence, we want the police to complete the dossier to avoid that," he added.

Slamet was arrested last month by police in the town of Tanjung Pinang, Riau. Singapore put him on its list of wanted people accused of plotting terrorist attacks in the neighboring country.

He was later flown to Riau for further questioning on charges of breaching immigration regulations as the suspect had allegedly forged his passport and travel documents.

The police have not as yet leveled charges of terrorism against Slamet.

Dippuan said his office also returned the dossiers of four other suspects -- head of the Mandau subdistrict Saparian in Bengkalis regency, his two staff members Refinoer and Fakrul, as well as Fatmawati who works for a local immigration service bureau.

The four were accused of assisting and facilitating the arrangement of Slamet's passport and identity card in Bengkalis.

Dippuan said prosecutors were studying the case file of the fifth suspect, Ridwan, a broker at the Dumai immigration office, who allegedly helped Slamet to obtain travel documents.

The prosecutor did not rule out the possibility of also giving back Ridwan's dossier to the Riau police.

Slamet's wife, Norlela binti Sahali, has also been questioned at the Tanjung Pinang Police station on similar charges of holding a fake passport.

Police investigating detained suspects in the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, mostly foreigners, have linked the devastating blasts to Jamaah Islamiyah.

Singapore, which accused Slamet of involvement in an attempt to hijack planes in the island state, has demanding that the suspect be extradited. But the Indonesia government turned down the request.