The Jakarta Post, April 24, 2003
18 more JI members arrested
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police reported more progress in their counter-terrorism measures with the arrest
of 18 more members of the regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which will
provide them with an opportunity to further investigate a series of terror attacks in the
past, including the bomb blasts in Bali and Makassar.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said here on Wednesday that 17 JI members,
including 12 in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi, were arrested last week while the
remaining one Abu Rusdan who reportedly replaced Abu Bakar Ba'asyir as JI
supreme leader, was captured early on Wednesday at his home town in Kudus,
Central Java.
Ba'asyir was arrested in October and is now facing charges for a variety of offenses
connected to his work with JI at the Central Jakarta District Court.
The 12 were identified as Saad alias Achmad Rohian, Firmansyah, Aan Nazanudin,
Nizam Chalid, Yusuf alias Fachri, Fauzan Arief, Sugeng, Joko Santoso, Mochtar
Sutisno, Nono Maryono, as well as two Malaysian citizens Nurmiswari, also called
Nurdin or Herman and Muhammad Ratin bin Nurdin alias Firdiansyah, and were
transferred to Jakarta from Palu on Wednesday.
Sawad, Umar Besar and Hafidz were captured in their hiding place in Cileungsi in
Bogor, West Java while the identity of the remaining two were kept confidential
pending further investigation.
"Three of the 18 are suspected in their direct or indirect involvement in the Bali
blasts," he said, adding that the police also confiscated thousands of rounds of
ammunition, dozens of fire arms and other bomb materials for a possible plan to
launch other attacks somewhere in the country.
The three --Sawad alias Sergio, Saad and Umar Besar-- were three of 30 suspects in
Bali explosions and they will likely be sent to Bali to undergo further investigation.
"Following the Bali bombing, we can not conclude that JI is already dead. Other JI
members will likely continue their terror attacks to fight for their goals," Da'i said
Da'i however declined to reveal the terrorist group's possible bombing targets, saying:
"That's how they work that they will never leave written evidence or maps describing
their targets."
The United Nations put JI on its official terrorist blacklist days after the Bali attacks on
Oct. 12, 2002, which killed more than 200 people, mostly Australian, and wounded
more than 320 others. Investigators have reportedly found evidence of close links
between the Bali bombings and the Nov. 5, 2002 Makassar blasts where three people
were killed and dozens of others were injured at a McDonald's restaurant.
Many believe that JI also has links to the Osama bin Laden-led al-Qaeda network
which was held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy in New York and
Washington, in which more than 3,000 people died.
Police Detective Chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng insisted that the police would
investigate the 18 suspects for their alleged involvement in terrorism in the past and
they would be charged under the 2002 anti-terror Perpu (government regulation in lieu
of law).
"With the arrest of the 18 suspects, we will continue developing our investigations into
all bomb blasts in the past," he said, adding that the police were still seeking many
more of their cohorts.
He conceded that the police were questioning the new suspects about possible links
between JI and Ba'asyir with the Bali and Makassar blasts, the series of Christmas
Eve bombings in 2000 and another series of bombs in Jakarta in 2001.
Asked for further information about their involvement in the Oct. 12 attack, Erwin said
that Nasir was holding two positions in JI as a regional leader supervising Sabah, East
Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, the southern Philippines and Kalimantan and Sulawesi
in Indonesia, in addition to being a subregion leader (Wakalah) of Sabah.
"Saad is believed to be involved in a series of bomb attacks across the country in
2000, including the one at the Philippines embassy. Firdiansyah is also allegedly
involved in the 2000 Atrium Plaza bombing," Erwin said.
He added that the police were still hunting for seven more JI members, including
Dulmatin, Jhon Anshari, Hambali, Umar Kecil Patek and Idris. The first two were
assemblers of the explosives used in Bali blasts
He said the police seized from the suspects some 6,620 rounds of ammunition, along
with a magnum pistol, some homemade guns, some active low explosive bombs, and
other bomb materials, including 25 kg of sulfur, 15 kg of a potassium compound, 45
active detonators, fertilizer and calcium powder.
Previously the police arrested 15 of 24 suspects in the Bali blasts and some of them
were JI members, including Imam Samudra aka Abdul Azis, Amrozi, Ali Gufron aka
Muklas, Hernianto aka Rudy, Andri Octavia aka Yudi, Junaedi aka Amin aka
Engkong,Andi Hidayat aka Agus, Abdul Rauf aka Sam, Makmuri aka Muri, M Najib
Nawawi, Ahmad Budi Wibowo, Herlambang aka Zaidin, Bambang Setiono aka Saeful
aka Suroso, Masykur Abdul Kadir, Muhamad Musyafak aka Abdul Hamid. Ten more
suspects, including Ali Imron, are still waiting for the completion of their dossiers.
The suspects were scheduled to stand trial by the end of this month.
The police in South Sulawesi have arrested 19 of 23 suspects in the Makassar blasts
and 13 will stand trial at the Makassar District Court in May.
The police have also arrested Abdul Jabar who was allegedly involved in the Atrium
bombing and Mas Slamet Kastari, a suspect in a 2000 bombing in Pekanbaru, Riau.
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