Some 3,000 police hunt for top terror suspects
Some 3,000 police hunt for top terror suspects
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post/Cirebon
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said police would
intensify their search, mostly in West Java, for Dr. Azahari bin
Husin and Noordin Mohd. Top, key suspects in the Australian
Embassy attack.
Da'i said some 3,000 police officers had been deployed in the
search in West Java, where the wanted fugitives had likely found
a safe haven.
"We strongly suspect that the two suspected terrorists are
hiding in the western or southern parts of West Java, therefore
we will focus our search in those two areas," Da'i told reporters
in Cirebon, West Java on Tuesday.
Da'i said that he was optimistic that the two terrorist
suspects would be apprehended within three months as had been
ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Susilo, who took his oath of office on Oct. 20, has made the
arrest of Azahari and Noordin a priority in his first 100-day
program.
As part of the stepped up search effort, police have also
distributed thousands of pictures and banners of the two suspects
in some strategic spots.
Azahari and Noordin Mohammad Top, two Malaysian nationals, are
alleged to have played key roles in the Sept. 9 bomb attack
against the Australian mission in the upmarket Kuningan district
of Jakarta, which killed 11 people and injured hundreds of
others.
The two were also blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings
which killed 202 people as well as last year's Jakarta Marriott
hotel attack.
Police turned their attention to West Java after an explosion
occurred at a boarding house in Cicurug village, Sukabumi, about
80 kilometers southwest of Jakarta a few weeks ago.
Locals have said that four suspicious individuals had rented
the house prior to the explosion, where police later found two
backpacks full of TNT, an explosive material used in the Sept. 9
bomb attack.
National Detective chief Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung has
confirmed that the four men were new recruits of Azahari and
Noordin.
In the wake of the blast, a senior military officer in the
province said that areas in West Java, such as Cianjur, Sukabumi,
Tasikmalaya and Ciamis could be where they are holed up.
In a related development, the police would soon hand over the
case files for two suspects, Agus Ahmad and Irun, who allegedly
aided and abbetted the two Malaysian terror suspects.
Suyitno was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that the
two suspects would be charged under the anti-terror law which
carries a maximum sentence of death.