Terrorists 'selling phone cards'

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Terrorists in Indonesia are facing funding problems and are resorting to selling mobile phone vouchers to raise cash after money from Saudi Arabia was cut off last year, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said on Monday.

Sutanto said that the funding from a terrorist cell in Saudi Arabia was disrupted after security authorities arrested last year a man identified only by his initials, "AS", who had been receiving the funds from couriers.

"They (terrorists) now face difficulties in obtaining money to finance their operations with the arrest of this man. We've cut their access to money," Sutanto told the House of Representatives Commission III on legal affairs.

Police believe terrorists are obtaining money legally by selling mobile phone vouchers, a business that has mushroomed in the country.

"They (terrorists) can reap profits amounting to Rp 5 million (US$500) a day," Sutanto said.

Tactics had changed since the Bali bomb attacks in 2000, Sutanto said. Then a perpetrator, Imam Samudra, had raised funds through robberies. Imam is now on a death row.

Sutanto's comments confirm the views of some security experts who have said terrorists have begun smaller operations because of cash-flow problems. The last attacks, in restaurants in Bali on Oct. 1, were carried out by three suicide bombers wearing explosive-laden backpacks. Previously, militants had preferred to use larger car bombs.

"These are difficult times for them now, but we're intensifying our efforts to investigate them, including finding our most wanted man, Noordin Mohd. Top," Sutanto said.

Sutanto also urged the government to implement the Single Identification Number (SIN) project quickly so that each person could be identified by a single number, making it more difficult for terrorists or criminals who wished to create double identities.

"Our laws and surveillance systems are too weak right now. People can have two ID cards or two passports just like Noordin and his followers (did). With the single number we can prevent such things from happening, thus diminishing crime in Indonesia."

Noordin and Malaysian compatriot Azahari bin Husin have been accused of masterminding a series of bomb attacks in the country during the past few years. The two are believed to be senior members of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network, which is linked to al-Qaeda.

However, a recent theory says that Noordin may have split from JI and formed an even more militant group.

Azahari was killed during a police raid on Nov. 9 in East Java. It is believed Noordin managed to escape a raid on the same day in the Central Java city of Semarang.