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."