Three arrested in hunt for GAM cell
Three arrested in hunt for GAM cell
Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Medan
Police arrested three more suspects implicated in the recent bomb
blasts in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, saying that funding
for the attack could have come from Singapore.
National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng
said on Monday that the three were arrested on Saturday and
Sunday in the ongoing hunt for remaining members of the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) separatist cell in Medan.
A total of 16 people had been arrested in connection with the
bombings, he said. Police are still searching for others said to
be involved.
"The execution (of the bombing) was ordered by GAM for the
Deli-Medan area," Erwin told reporters.
A bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Medan mayor's office
on March 31, and another at a gas pipeline belonging to state oil
and gas company Pertamina near the Deli seaport on April 1. No
one was injured in the attacks.
Erwin said police had traced the suspects' cashflow, saying
some of the money had came from Aceh as well as from abroad. "So
far, we've only found out that the money was transferred from
Singapore," he said.
He said GAM had a representative in Singapore but did not
elaborate.
GAM is fighting an independence war in the neighboring
province of Aceh Nangroe Darussalam.
The police's biggest catch in the bombing case has been that
of alleged GAM commander Abdul Wahid. Abdul is in charge of the
separatists' operations in the North Sumatra regency of Deli and
in Medan.
He told the police that 40 GAM members were planning more
terror attacks in Medan, prompting the hunt for his followers.
Medan police chief Adj. Comr. Sr. Bagus Kurniawan identified
the latest arrested suspects as Abdullah, Mustofa and Musliadi.
Abdullah was arrested in the regency of Langkat, while Mustofa
and Musliadi were both apprehended in Medan, Bagus said.
He said Abdullah was a GAM spy, and Mustofa the group's
treasurer for Medan.
The three suspects, he added, were also likely involved in a
grenade attack on the Asean Internasional hotel in Medan last
year, and two church bombings in 2000.
Police continue to search for a suspect known as Zulfikar, the
alleged mastermind of the Medan bombings.
GAM has denied involvement in any bomb attacks outside Aceh.
But police have also linked the group to last week's bombing of
the Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta.