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Key suspect arrested alqaeda { December 4 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/04/international/04CND-INDO.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/04/international/04CND-INDO.html
December 4, 2002
Indonesia Arrests a Top Suspect in Southeast Asia Terror Network
By RAYMOND BONNER
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 4 — A man suspected of being a senior commander in a regional terrorist network, and a leader of the Bali bombing attack, has been arrested, the Indonesian police said today.
The arrest of the suspect, Ali Ghufron, better known as Mukhlas, was heralded by diplomats and security officials as a significant step in learning more about the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah, and its links to Al Qaeda.
"It's a big breakthrough, not only into the investigation of the Bali attack, but into shutting down the terrorist network here," a senior Western diplomat said.
Mr. Mukhlas, who was arrested in central Java in the early morning hours, is the older brother of Amrozi, one of the first individuals arrested in connection with the bombing of the Bali disco in October, which killed nearly 200, most of them Australians. At least five others have been arrested, but they have been identified as cell members, or foot soldiers, not leaders.
With the arrest of Mr. Mukhlas, "you're beginning to get at the network structure," said a security specialist. "This is really tremendous."
The arrest of Mr. Mukhlas, who is also wanted in Singapore in connection with a plot to blow up the American Embassy there last December, underscores a marked change in the Indonesian government's attitude and policy toward terrorism.
For more than an year, when American officials presented Indonesian officials with evidence of a terrorist network in this sprawling archipelago, the officials bristled, and lashed out at the Americans for closing the embassy and schools serving American and other Western students.
Now, in the aftermath of the Bali attack, while there are still Indonesians who believe it was a Central Intelligence Agency plot, law enforcement officials are moving swiftly to roll up suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, which the United States has declared a terrorist organization.
"It shows that when there is the political will, they have the ability to do it," a Western official said.
It was no secret that the authorities had been hunting Mr. Mukhlas for several weeks, and the fact that he had not fled Indonesia raises tantalizing questions about the whereabouts of other suspects with possible ties to Al Qaeda, and whether their places to hide are becoming limited.
The camps in Afghanistan do not exist any more. Neighboring Pakistan has many F.B.I. agents active in the country, and the Pakistani government says that it is doing its best to help the United States.
Malaysia was home, and a breeding ground, for many Jemaah Islamiyah members in the 1990's, including Mr. Mukhlas, whose aim was the establishment of an Islamic state across Southeast Asia. But since the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, Malaysia's authoritative government has cracked down on Islamic fundamentalists.
Another potential hiding place, Western and Asian intelligence officials say, is Thailand, where the government's approach to terrorism is much like Indonesia's was before Bali — it can't happen here.
Until the past few weeks, Indonesia had been considered safe for such suspects. It is a Muslim country, with a weak president, fractious security agencies and a strong belief among the Muslim population, supported by many politicians, that the United States is anti-Islamic.
The United States and Australia have now begun to focus the search for terrorists on a triangle that encompasses the southern Philippines, where there is a militant Islamic movement, and the remote reaches of the island of Borneo, which is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia.
Indonesian intelligence officials say they are looking for 20 to 25 men believed to be key leaders of the terrorist network, and that there are some 200 cell members or foot soldiers. If the leaders can be found, it will not only drastically reduce the terrorist threat in Indonesia, but throughout Southeast Asia, a senior Indonesian intelligence official said recently.
With Mr. Mukhlas's arrest, the most hunted man in Southeast Asia is now probably Riadun Isamuddin, better known as Hambali. There have been varying, and conflicting accounts of his whereabouts, placing him from Pakistan to Thailand. But Indonesian intelligence officials say that he is in Indonesia, and that they know where.
Mr. Hambali is considered a member of Al Qaeda's inner circle, and was widely believed to be the senior operational commander for Southeast Asia.
He has been linked to many attacks on United States targets in the region for over a decade, and Singaporean officials have said he was behind a plot to blow up the American, Australian, British and Israeli embassies there last December.
The plot was foiled when Singaporean and Malaysian officials, acting on evidence turned up during American operations in Afghanistan, arrested several suspects.
In January Mr. Hambali presided over a meeting in southern Thailand in which the participants decided that because embassies were increasingly well protected, it was time to go after so-called soft targets, such as nightclubs, schools and other places where Americans gathered.
Some intelligence officials believe that Mr. Hambali turned over operational command of the network to Mr. Mukhlas. Both men were in Malaysia together in the early 1990's as members of a small radical community of Islamic radicals in exile from Indonesia. Among them was Abu Bakar Bashir, who is considered the inspirational leader of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Under intense pressure from several governments, including the United States, the Indonesians detained Mr. Bashir in October, but he has not been charged with any crimes.
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