The Jakarta Post, 12/10/2003 3:02:03 PM
Pakistan hands over six Indonesian terror suspects to Jakarta
ISLAMABAD (AFP): Pakistan Wednesday handed over six Indonesian Islamic
students held here on suspicion of terror links to a delegation from Jakarta for
repatriation to their homeland, officials said.
The detainees includes Rusman Gunawan, the younger brother of alleged top terrorist
Hambali, considered al-Qaeda's pointman in Asia and also former operations chief of
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group.
"The students have been handed over to the delegation," a senior government official
told AFP here. The official would not disclose when the Indonesian students would be
flown out ofPakistan.
Foreign office spokesman Masood Khan confirmed the handover and said the
Indonesian delegation, which arrived here Sunday, had come with a formal request to
take custody of the six detainees.
The Indonesians had been studying at the Abu Bakar Islamic University in the
southern city of Karachi before their arrest in September.
Islamabad-based security officials said the students were part of "a sleeper cell" of
the al-Qaeda-linked JI. JI is blamed for a string of attacks including the Bali blasts that
killed 202 people in October 2002.
Hambali has been in US custody at a secret location since his arrest in Thailand on
Aug. 1.
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