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Indonesia: Jemaah Islamiyah Suspects on Way to Syria When Arrested
Two alleged Indonesian members of Jamaah Islamiyah were on their way to Syria to build contacts with an international terrorist network when arrested in Malaysia, police here said
Tuesday.
Police said their Malaysian counterparts detained Agus Purwantoro, 39, and Abdul Rohim, 49, at a Malaysian airport on Jan. 31 during a search for illegal immigrants.
The suspects were holding fake
passports under the names of Oktariadi Anis and Deddy Achmadi Machdan, they said.
"They said themselves that they were heading to Syria to meet with a larger terrorist network, but we are not sure what group they
are referring to," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told a news conference.
He said Agus and Abdul were extradited to Indonesia on March 28 and taken into custody by police upon arrival at
Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Anton said police were questioning the two suspects over their alleged involvement in regional terror group JI.
Agus is reportedly the leader of JI in Poso, Central
Sulawesi, former scene of deadly religious violence, and is said to have links with al-Qaeda.
Agus, who graduated from Airlangga University's School of Medicine, in Surabaya, East Java, is also believed to have served as
a doctor for fugitive terrorist Noordin M. Top.
Noordin is one of the chief JI members in Indonesia and is allegedly responsible for a string of bombings in the country. He has escaped arrest on several occasions.
Agus is also known to have been a student of the late terrorist Azahari bin Husin, who was killed by the police's anti-terror squad during a raid in Malang, East Java, on Nov. 9, 2005.
Anton said the police had been
searching for Agus and Abdul over their alleged involvement in the religious violence in Poso between 2000 and 2002 that claimed more than 2,000 lives and displaced 100,000 others.
The conflict ended in a truce that was
mediated by a government team led by Jusuf Kalla, now Vice President. However, sporadic bomb attacks and assassinations continue to plague several areas of Central Sulawesi.
Anton said Agus was directly involved in some
of the worst violence in Central Sulawesi, including the mutilation of three female high school students, bombings at Tentena and a gold store robbery.
On May 28, 2005, bombs exploded at a market in Tentena, a coastal
town near Poso, killing 22 people.
"He was involved in the mutilation of the three female high school students that occurred near Poso on Nov. 29, 2005."
"And in February 2006 he was involved in a
gold store robbery in Poso, in which the owner of the store was shot and killed. Around three kilograms of gold were stolen," Anton said.
He said Agus and Abdul are being held at the detention center of the police's
elite Mobile Brigade in Kelapa Dua, Depok, about 25 kilometers south of Jakarta
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