LAKSAMANA.Net, December 10, 2003 09:41 PM
Pakistan Hands Over Terror Suspects
Laksamana.Net - Pakistan has handed over six suspected Indonesian Islamic
militants, including the brother of alleged terrorist mastermind Hambali, to a
delegation of visiting Indonesian security officials, reports said Wednesday (10/12/03).
The suspects were arrested in September during raids on Islamic seminaries in the
southern port city of Karachi.
"An Indonesian team had arrived here with a request to hand them over and we have
done that,'' Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Rauf Chaudhry was quoted as
saying by Reuters.
The handover comes a few days before President Megawati Sukarnoputri is due to
arrive in Pakistan for a four-day state visit.
It was not immediately clear when the radical students would be flown back to
Indonesia, but reports have said they will be deported before Megawati arrives on
December 13.
Among the six detainees is Hambali's 27-year-old brother Rusman Gunawan alias
Gun-Gun, who has confessed to providing financial and logistics support to his
infamous sibling.
The other students have been identified as Mohamad Syaifudin, Ilham Sofyandi, David
Pintarto, Furqon Abdullah and Muhammad Anwar As-Shadaqqi.
Security officials in Pakistan have said all six were part of "a sleeper cell" of
Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.
Gun-Gun has reportedly denied being a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, which was
allegedly led by his brother until earlier this year.
Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was arrested with his wife on August
11 in Thailand by Thai authorities and the US intelligence agents. He is now being
held by the US at an undisclosed location, while his wife is being detained in
Malaysia.
Indonesia has requested that Hambali be sent back to Jakarta to face trial, but the US
has said it will only hand him over once he has told investigators everything he knows
about terrorist plots, networks and funds.
Hambali is believed to be the main Southeast Asian operative of Osama bin Laden's
Al Qaeda network. He is also wanted for questioning in connection with terrorist
attacks and plots in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
US and Indonesian authorities believe he was the key planner and financier of last
year's Bali nightclub bombings and the August 5 bomb blast at Jakarta's JW Marriott
Hotel.
Authorities in Jakarta have said he was involved in 39 bombings in eight Indonesian
cities between August 2000 and October 2002.
In addition to the Bali and Marriott blasts, he is also suspected of involvement in a
blast at the Atrium shopping mall in Jakarta, one outside the residence of the
Philippines ambassador, and several church bombings.
National Police Chief General Dai Bachtiar has said Hambali was also linked to the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people in the US.
Five Malaysians Still Detained
Thirteen Malaysian students were also captured in Karachi in September and
deported on November 10. Five of them are now being held for a two-year period under
Malaysia's tough Internal Security Act. The eight others have been released, although
four are under restriction orders limiting their movements and are being closely
monitored by police.
The five still being detained were allegedly sent to Pakistan by Hambali for training in
bombings and suicide attacks against American interests in Malaysia and worldwide.
Malaysia's The Star daily said the students were part of a Jemaah Islamiyah-linked
group called al-Ghuraba and had apparently attended sermons by bin Laden.
"Most of them had attended various guerilla warfare training as part of the JI's plan to
form by force an Islamic state in the region - Malaysia, Indonesia and southern
Philippines," The Star quoted an unnamed source as saying.
"They know how to use rocket launchers to hit aircraft and even know how to make
and use explosives," the source added.
The five detainees have been identified as Abi Dzar Jaafar, Mohamad Ikhwan
Abdullah, Eddy Erman Shahime, Mohamad Radi Abdul Razak and Mohamad Akil
Abdul Raof.
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