The Jakarta Post, 1/1/2003 3:48:46 PM
Police release militant allegedly linked to al-Qaeda
JAKARTA (JP): Police released on Wednesday a man who is reported to have had
links with the al-Qaeda network after arresting him for alleged document fraud, AFP
reported.
Abdul Wahid Kadungga, a Indonesian-born Dutch citizen, told El Shinta radio station
said he had been released but was obliged to report to the police periodically.
"My only crime is that I have a Jakarta ID card," he said, saying that poice had not
asked him about any links to terrorism.
Kadungga, 62, said he sought political asylum in the Netherlands in the 1980s to flee
persecution against Muslim activists by the Suharto governmentand obtained Dutch
citizenship in 1991. He returned to Indonesia in 1999.
He denied any links to international terrorism but he said he knew alleged spiritual
leader of the Jamaah Islamiyah group Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
Balikpapan police had arrested Kadungga on Friday pf possible connections to bomb
attacks in Bali and at a McDonald's outlet in Makassar in South Sulawesi.
He was sent to the National Police headquarter in Jakarta for further questioning.
Police released him on Friday but rearrested him Friday.
Kadungga is the son-in-law of Kahar Muzakar, a Muslim leader who was slain in
1965.
According to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), Kadungga assisted
Ba'asyir in 1985 when Ba'asyir fled Indonesia for Malaysia.
ICG said Kadungga "is believed to have had direct communication with al-Qaeda
through his ties to the Egyptian-led Gama Islami."
The Gama Islami is a core group of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, according
to ICG.
Kadungga strongly rejected the report. He said that he considered to sue the
organization.
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