Top JI leader captured in Thailand
Top JI leader captured in Thailand
Agencies, Jakarta
Hambali, a former top Southeast Asia operative of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group who allegedly oversaw a string of terrorist bombings that killed hundreds in Indonesia and has also been linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, was arrested in the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, officials said on Friday.
Thai security officials said that one of Asia's most wanted men was apprehended in a raid on an apartment building after a tip off from local residents in the city.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said during a visit to Sri Lanka that the suspected terrorist's arrest was made after Thai police were informed about the presence of the foreigner in the area. "And after we checked his passport, we found that he's one of the most wanted in several countries," Thailand's state radio quoted him as saying.
Residents who witnessed Hambali's arrest told The Associated Press that he had lived in the building for only two weeks. They said plainclothes officers smashed down the door of his one- bedroom apartment and took him away after a violent struggle. They described him as being a quiet neighbor.
Officials in Thailand said he had been flown to Indonesia under U.S. custody, but Bali's police chief, Maj. Gen. I Made Pastika, who led the investigation into the Bali bombing, said he was in U.S. detention and had not been brought to Indonesia.
A report said that Hambali had been captured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at an undisclosed location, and that he was being returned to Indonesia to face terrorism charges.
Meanwhile, a Bangkok daily, The Nation, reported that Hambali was being held at a secret location in Thailand by Thai authorities and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Neither reports could be officially confirmed.
Hambali is the top suspect in last October's Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly foreign holidaymakers and are blamed on JI, and in a string of other attacks in Indonesia, including church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 that killed 19 people.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar confirmed here on Friday that Hambali had indeed been captured in Thailand.
"Yesterday (Thursday), we were informed about the arrest," Da'i told reporters after attending a state-of-the-nation address by President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the House of Representatives.
Da'i did not specify which agencies were responsible for Hambali's capture or the whereabouts of the terror group leader. He said the Indonesian Police would seek access from the authorities that had been responsible for Hambali's capture so that they could interrogate him.
Foreign affairs minister Hassan Wirayuda said that Hambali could not be extradited to Indonesia on the ground that Indonesia had no extradition pact with the U.S. government, the party that had arrested Hambali.
However, Hassan said that Indonesia could ask for Hambali's return to Indonesia for interrogation and probably for prosecution, as Indonesia had legal cooperation with the U.S, especially in combating terrorism.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard hailed Hambali's capture. Bush said Hambali was a known killer and a close associate of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
"This man is a very big fish," Prime Minister Howard said in a Pacific leaders' summit in New Zealand, "Psychologically, this capture will inflict a very heavy blow on the worldwide terrorist network."
Later in the day, National Police detectives' chief Erwin Mappaseng told reporters that he had prepared a team to interrogate Hambali.
"We have been ordered to set up the team by the National Police chief," he said, adding that Hambali has been on the most- wanted list of terrorist suspects.
Asked about bringing Hambali to Indonesia, Mappaseng said he did not have the authority to comment on this as it was an international matter."