Thursday August 12, 2010
Three linked to Abu Bakar detained under ISA
By LOURDES CHARLES
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police have arrested three suspects believed to be linked to a militant Islamic group in Aceh, less than 72 hours after Indonesia’s arrest of top radical preacher Abu Bakar Bashir. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the three – two Malaysians and an Indonesian – were nabbed yesterday in Temerloh, Pahang, and Ampang, Selangor. They are aged between 34 and 70.
“All three were arrested under the Internal Security Act as we believe they are involved in activities detrimental to the security of the country,” he said. It is learnt that one of them is a managing director of a company while the other two are a contractor and a marketing executive. A Bernama report named them as Samsul Hamidi, 34, and managing director Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Junaid, 70.
The Indonesian is Mustawan Ahbab, 34, a marketing executive who was nabbed in Bukit Indah, Ampang. He is believed to be the direct link to the Aceh cell. Regional intelligence sources said police here had been monitoring the activities of the three well before Abu Bakar’s capture. Abu Bakar, who is alleged to be linked to Al-Qaeda, was arrested in Jakarta on Monday for suspected involvement in the funding and setting up of a terror training camp in Aceh.
Indonesian police investigations discovered the network calling itself Al-Qaeda Aceh, which they claimed was plotting to launch an attack in Indonesia and planning the assassination of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Abu Bakar’s detention came following the Aug 7 arrest of five men believed to be members of the firebrand cleric’s Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) and the discovery of high-explosive homemade bombs and bomb-making laboratory in West Java. Yesterday, Abu Bakar was charged with plotting terror attacks in an Indonesian court.
