Posted on 08/15/2003 4:35:04 AM PDT by kattracks
Terror suspect Hambali keeps one step ahead of law
By Ed Cropley
PHNOM PENH, Aug 6 (Reuters) - From high-rise Singapore to the rice-fields of rural Cambodia, the net has slowly been closing in on Jemaah Islamiah, the shadowy Islamic group emerging as a possible suspect in Tuesday's hotel bombing in Jakarta.
But its suspected mastermind -- the mysterious Hambali, a bespectacled Indonesian preacher thought to be the brains behind last year's Bali bombings -- has always managed to keep one step ahead of the law.
The huge car bomb at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel which killed up to 16 people on Tuesday confirmed the worst suspicions of many: despite unprecedented cooperation between historically prickly neighbours, Islamic militants can still strike at will.
Police hunting for clues to who blew up a U.S.-run luxury hotel said on Wednesday the explosives and methods resembled those used in the Bali nightclub blasts.
To combat Jemaah's tentacle-like network of "sleepers", funders, sympathisers and bolt-holes in a poorly developed corner of the globe, Western and local intelligence agencies have taken to passing on all sorts of useful tidbits.
Many arrests have followed -- in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. Hambali has not been among them.
Rumours of his suspected whereabouts have ballooned into scores of possible sightings, from Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand to Cambodia, nearly all in hard-to-police border areas.
But when the authorities arrive, the bird has already flown.
A senior Cambodian intelligence source told Reuters Hambali, alias Riduan Isamuddin, had been sitting under their noses from September 2002 to March 2003, often in a tourist hotel popular with pot-smoking hippies.
"He shared his time between Koh Kong (along the Thai border) and a backpacker guesthouse in the middle of Phnom Penh," the source said.
Hambali left shortly before Cambodia rounded up four Jemaah suspects: an Egyptian, two Thais and a local Muslim, he said. [Note: This was when Cambodia shut down the Saudi-financed madrassa outside Phnom penh/angkor]
WHERE IS HAMBALI?
Even as Cambodia was denying he was there, authorities in neighbouring Thailand were saying the exact opposite.
Thai police special branch sources, who have suggested he may sometimes be disguised as a woman, said he had been spotted several times across Thailand, including the capital Bangkok.
Black-and-white "identikit" photos were distributed at all border checkpoints, but he still evaded their clutches, leading police to believe he was back in the lawless former Khmer Rouge-controlled zones of western Cambodia.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra insisted on Wednesday that Hambali was no longer in the country.
"We have made several checks and found out that Hambali is not in Thailand," Thaksin told reporters. "We are aware of his various names and aliases. Yes, he was here, but not anymore."
Authorities in Southeast Asia are stepping up their own security efforts after Tuesday's blast.
Thailand increased protection at key Western embassies and businesses but rejected fears it could be an easy target in the run-up to October's summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which includes U.S. President George W. Bush.
"We must pay closer attention...since the latest incident showed they have intensified their efforts in this region," Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said.
Australia said there could be more attacks in Indonesia in the wake of Tuesday's car bombing and sent police to Jakarta to help with the investigation.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday further attacks could occur to coincide with a verdict in the case of key Bali bombing suspect Amrozi, which is due to be handed down on Thursday, and the treason trial of Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric accused of heading Jemaah Islamiah.
"We have particular concerns at the moment about central Jakarta, but also other places in Indonesia. There could be a further terrorist attack in the next day or so," Downer told reporters.
That says it all.
How's about we squeeze him for all we can get and run him through a chipper?
Feed what comes out to the hogs.
Butcher the hogs and send 'em to his family for processing.
NAH..too tough on de hawgs.
Thailand has been a quiet but faithful ally since the end of WWII,
(except for a brief period in the early 70's when communist lead students took over.)
HERE IS THE CONFERENCE The hotel is right on the Chao Phraya River. Leaders from major countries in the region will be there.
If he doesn't talk, perhaps he'll be "lost" forever.
Except that once he lands in the U.S., that pesky Constitution with its "due process" rules applies. Gitmo has been used precisely because the USSC has said that Constitutional protections do not apply to foreign nationals not on U.S. soil.
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