Two JI members arrested in E. Java

Two JI members arrested in E. Java

JAKARTA: Indonesian police said Wednesday they have arrested two
members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network who were
allegedly trained by Muslim separatist rebels in the Philippines.

Yudi and Usman were arrested by East Java police almost three
weeks ago, said Chief Commissioner Ade Raharja, a district police
chief in Surabaya, capital of East Java.

He told AFP that Yudi had been in charge of smuggling weapons
into Indonesia while Usman was a JI member recruiter.

He said both men had told police they had heard about Imam
Samudra -- the alleged Bali bombing field commander -- but had
never met him in person.

But both men had admitted of "communicating" in the past with
Mubarok, another key suspect in the bombings last Oct. 12 that
killed 202 people from 21 countries.

Reputed JI leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is on trial in Jakarta
for waging a holy war to try to topple the Jakarta government and
set up an Islamic state. The Muslim cleric faces a 20-year jail
term if convicted of treason.

Samudra and five other suspects -- including the man who
allegedly purchased the van used in one of the bombings, Amrozi
-- are on trial on the resort island.

JI, which seeks to create a pan-Islamic state across Southeast
Asia, is blamed for the Bali blasts and the Christmas Eve and
other bombings.

The group aims to destabilise the region through terror
attacks and unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the
southern Philippines under a fundamentalist umbrella.

JI has been strongly linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama
bin Laden.

Indonesia has detained more than 30 people for the Bali blasts
and says several of them are JI members.

Eighteen alleged JI members, including three Bali suspects,
were arrested last month but four were later released. --AFP