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.