Thai police arrest more terror suspects

Thai police arrest more terror suspects

Agencies, Bangkok/Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur

Thai police have arrested five suspected terrorists including
three Pakistanis and two Myanmar nationals in the northern
province of Chiang Mai, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said
Saturday.

"They were arrested because their suspicious behavior
indicated they may have links with terrorists," Thaksin said in
his weekly radio address.

"Initially they were arrested on immigration charges, we must
question them before we can decide whether they are terrorists or
not," he was quoted by AFP.

Thailand has been on alert since the capture of alleged
terrorist mastermind Hambali in the central city of Ayutthaya two
weeks ago.

Although Thaksin said at the time that the arrest wiped out
the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network in Thailand, Deputy Prime
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh later said it was likely Hambali's
lieutenants remained in the country.

Thaksin said a Thai national had also been arrested for giving
shelter to the five suspected terrorists who were taken into
custody on Friday.

Chiang Mai immigration police commander Col. Chinapath
Tansrisakul said a large picture of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden was found hanging in one of the bedrooms of the house where
the five suspects lived.

"They are now under interrogation by the National Security
Council, the National Intelligence Agency and Special Branch
(police)," he told AFP, adding the five had initially claimed the
picture belonged to their Thai landlord.

Police in Sanpatong district, where the arrests were made,
said the suspects were taken to court Saturday to face various
immigration charges including overstaying their visas and illegal
entry.

"They said they had no occupation here, but some of them have
overstayed their visas for almost one year," Chinapath said. The
suspects had all entered Thailand separately.

Hambali, a key bin Laden ally and the accused architect of
last year's Bali bombings which killed over 200 people, is in
U.S. custody and being interrogated in an undisclosed location.

His arrest in the kingdom has fueled concerns over security,
with one security official this week warning Thailand "is now the
target for terrorism attacks."

In Jakarta, Indonesia's top security minister said Saturday
that Jakarta would push for access to alleged terror kingpin
Hambali, in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location following his
arrest in Thailand earlier this month.

"There should be no doubt that we will assert our right to
examine him," Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by
the official Antara news agency in Indonesia's second city
Surabaya.

He said Indonesian police, who have prepared a team to
question Hambali, had established contact with U.S. authorities
to request access to the man described as Asia's most wanted man.

Indonesia has asked Washington to hand over Hambali, whom
police allege was involved in 39 bombings in eight Indonesian
cities between August 2000 and the Bali blasts in October 2002,
which killed 202 people mostly foreigners.

Hambali is also wanted for questioning in Malaysia, the
Philippines and Singapore.

In Kuala Lumpur, a suspected senior member of the Jemaah
Islamiyah extremist group has been freed from prison in Malaysia
and is likely to be deported to Indonesia, his lawyer and wife
said Saturday.

Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, an Indonesian with permanent
residency in Malaysia, was released from a prison camp in
northern Malaysia and handed to immigration officials in Kuala
Lumpur on Friday, lawyer Latifah Koya told The Associated Press.

Iqbal's wife, Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz, said immigration
officials told her he would be deported to Indonesia soon.

It was not immediately clear if Iqbal is wanted by Indonesian
authorities. Immigration officials were not available for
comment.

Iqbal, 46, was arrested in June 2001 at the beginning of a
crackdown on religious extremists by Malaysian authorities using
a tough security law that allows for indefinite detention without
trial. He was never charged or brought to court.

Scores of suspects were detained in 2001 and 2002.

Officials say alleged terrorist mastermind Hambali, also an
Indonesian, replaced Iqbal as the cell's leader after Iqbal was
arrested.