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