Indonesia detains Bali bombing suspects

Four Indonesians arrested last week have been named suspects under anti-terrorism laws in October's restaurant bombings on Bali and for hiding a key militant. "These four people are believed to have been involved in the 2005 Bali bombings," deputy national police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said. "They also helped hide Noordin M Top during and after the bombings."

Police have been conducting a nationwide manhunt for Top, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah - a shadowy militant group seen as the South-East Asian arm of Al Qaeda. Top is blamed for helping mastermind a series of bombings in Indonesia in recent years, including one on three restaurants in Bali in October by suicide bombers that killed 20 people.

The four men were arrested in Central Java province last week. It is unclear when they will face trial. Mr Alam says a close aid to Top is still being interrogated and has not been declared a suspect.

Top worked closely in Indonesia with fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a police raid on his East Java hideout in November. Azahari was seen as Jemaah Islamiah's top bombing expert.

Police say they almost caught Top hours before the November raid and he is thought to be still in Indonesia. Police say Top is an expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among Indonesia's impoverished masses.

Since the October 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali, which killed 202 people, Indonesian police have arrested hundreds of militants and convicted scores on terror charges.

Noordin's followers admit role in robberies: Police
Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta/Jakarta

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060121.C02&irec=3

At least two of the six men arrested recently for their alleged links with terror suspect Noordin M. Top, had taken part in armed robberies, the Central Java Police chief said Friday.
"Some of them have confessed to having been involved in several criminal cases," Insp. Gen. Dodi Sumantyawan said, refusing to name the all the suspects. "But we have yet to discover whether their crimes were connected with acts of terrorism."
Others in the group were believed to have taken part in the robbery of a jewelry store in Tegal, East Java, in October 2005, he said.
"We are looking into whether the rubbery was committed to fund terrorist activities," Dodi said.
He said Subur Sugiarto, one of the detained men, had confessed that he had been involved in several crimes using firearms in Surakarta in 2001, a year before the first Bali bombing that killed 202 people.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam has said police were investigating the possibility that robberies were being carried out by terrorists to finance their operations in Indonesia.
"According to the investigation results of the first Bali bombing, the perpetrators, Imam Samudra and his team members, robbed banks and jewelry stores to raise funds for the attack," he said recently.
The allegations of terrorist connections with robberies have gained credibility based on documents discovered in the hideout of Azahari bin Husin who was killed in a raid in Malang on Nov. 9 last year.

In the past few months, several robberies have taken place at banks and jewelry stores in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Tangerang, causing losses of hundreds of millions of rupiah.
Anton said Friday that after seven days of thorough investigations, the police named four of the men as suspects for their alleged links with the latest Bali bombing and for sheltering Noordin.
They are Joko Suroso, Ardi Wibowo, Aditya Triyoga, and Puji Sriyono.

"They helped Noordin in preparing the bomb attack in Bali on Oct. 1, 2005," Anton told The Jakarta Post.
The suspects also helped hide the Malaysian fugitive in Semarang, he said.
Anton said the police's belief that the four were involved in the recent Bali attack was based on the testimony of several witnesses and other evidence.
Police confiscated revolvers, ammunition, documents, VCDs and cellular phones from the suspects.
Joko, Ardi and Puji were arrested in two separate operations in Semarang on Jan. 13, while Aditya was nabbed a day later in Klaten, Central Java.
Subur Sugiarto was arrested in Boyolali, Central Java, on Jan. 18, while traveling on a bus heading to Semarang. The last man, Abu Sayaf, was caught by police one day later in Karang Anyar, Central Java.

Dodi said that apart from being involved in rubbery cases, Subur allegedly recruited men for terrorist attacks along with Noordin.

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