Amrozi admits buying chemicals

The Daily Telegraph ^ | June 06 2003 | Cindy Wockner

[knighthawk]

SMILING bomber Amrozi has admitted he bought one tonne of chemicals before the October 12 Bali bombing.

A relaxed Amrozi watched yesterday as two employees of a chemical store in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, testified that they sold him the potassium chlorate, sulphur and aluminium powder which was later turned into a deadly car bomb that exploded outside the Sari nightclub in Kuta.

The explosion and fire killed 202 people, including 89 Australians,

Amrozi told his Bali terrorism trial the testimony of both men was correct.

Store employee Supomo said Amrozi had visited the store three times to buy chemicals but he had never wondered or inquired why he was buying so much.

Next week the prosecution is expected to call the shop's owner, Silvester Tendean, to give evidence.

Tendean, the first person to be convicted in relation to the Bali attack, was last month sentenced to seven months jail and was expected to be released this week, taking into account time already served. Prosecutors had been unable to prove that Tendean knew the chemicals would be used to make a bomb.

The shop employees were among nine witnesses called to testify at Amrozi's trial.

Others included the owners of boarding houses rented in Denpasar by the accused bombers in the lead-up to the attack.

One woman, Yasumi, said her front door was directly opposite Amrozi's and on one occasion Amrozi had knocked on her door and borrowed a knife from her.

But, asked to respond, Amrozi disagreed with Yasumi.

"I have never had any communication with this woman . . . I have never borrowed a knife." He did agree he was at the boarding house.

Earlier yesterday, the separate trial of the bombing's alleged field commander Abdul Aziz (aka Imam Samudra) heard the prosecution's response to defence claims the charges should be thrown out.

The defence had claimed the charges were contrary to Indonesia's constitution because they were retrospective – laid under the anti-terrorism decree passed after the bombing.

They had also argued the involvement of international police, including Australians who formed part of an international investigative team, was disallowed under local law.

It took prosecutor Nyoman Supartha Jaya only 20 minutes to reject all the claims.

He argued the Bali bombing, was an "extraordinary crime and a crime against humanity" and that terrorism was an international crime, threatening peace and safety, thus making it possible to use retrospective laws.

Mr Jaya also argued that the anti-terror decree specifically allowed the use of international police agencies to investigate crimes of terrorism.

Tasmanian Stuart Anstee, who lost one mate in the Sari nightclub and almost died himself after a shard of glass cut his jugular vein, was making his first visit to Bali since the bombing.

"It's a pretty strange feeling, it takes a while actually to sink in," Mr Anstee said.

"When you first see the suspects and you see the way they are behaving, the way they are holding themselves, it does get a bit frustrating and it's pretty hard to try and keep that anger down."

Both trials resume on Monday, when the judges will make a decision in Aziz's case.

[knighthawk]

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