Indonesian police say arrested Islamic teacher is a terrorist leader

JAKARTA Jan 12 - Indonesian police said Monday an Islamic teacher arrested in East Java province last week planned to bomb police headquarters and has long been on their wanted list.

Adi Suryana, 40, was arrested in the East Java capital of Surabaya on January 9.

Police said at the time that he might have information on fugitive Malaysian explosives experts Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top, wanted for attacks including the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people.

``We have long been looking for him,'' said the head of the national police detective department, Commissioner General Erwin Mappaseng.

``He is the planner of terror, including the plan to bomb the headquarters of the national police and the Jakarta police headquarters.''

Suryana had met seven times with a group in several Indonesian cities to prepare acts of terror, the officer said.

``He is sort of their manager,'' Mappaseng said, adding that some of Suryana's friends in the group had already been captured and tried in court.

Mappaseng said Suryana and his group had conducted surveillance of both the national police and Jakarta police headquarters as part of a plan to attack them. The plan was never carried out.

But Mappaseng said police did not yet have evidence to prove Suryana was part of another group, which included Azahari and Noordin.

Police are looking for Azahari and Noordin for their alleged roles in the October 2002 Bali bombings and an attack on the JW Marriott hotel in August, which took 12 lives.

Detectives blamed the attacks on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network, of which Azahari and Noordin are alleged members. Authorities say JI has some links to al-Qaeda.

Azahari and Noordin escaped a police raid in September. Police say they are armed with explosives and believed to be still in Indonesia.

Mappaseng said police would bring Suryana to Jakarta for questioning and detention. He declined further comments.

An anti-terror decree passed in 2002 following the Bali bombings allows Indonesian police to detain terror suspects for up to seven days without an arrest warrant. They can be held for several months without trial.

Indonesia has arrested about 100 suspected Muslim extremists, including more than 30 for the Bali bombings and 12 for the Marriott attack.

MEANWHILE, in a related development, Indonesian prosecutors on Monday extended by another 30 days the detention of Abu Rusdan, the caretaker chief of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist group on trial for allegedly helping to hide a key Bali bomber.

The detention of Rusdan was extended until February 9, said judge Machmud Rachimi of the South Jakarta district court. He said that the extension letter was issued by the Jakarta appeal court on December 31.

Rusdan and his lawyers had earlier told the court that despite the expiry of the detention warrant on January 9, he had remained locked up. He and his lawyers said that they had never received or were never shown the extension order.

Arrested in April of last year, Rusdan is accused of failing to report key Bali bomber Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas to the authorities after he had allegedly claimed responsibility for the Bali blasts at a JI meeting in Central Java on October 17, 2002 - five days after the attack.

He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted under anti-terror laws.

Prosecutors say Rusdan took over as JI's caretaker leader in April 2002 after Bashir's term in office.

Rusdan admits having been appointed JI's caretaker chief but has said he had no real power and was not involved in violence.

JI is blamed for the Bali bombings, the Marriott hotel blast in Jakarta in August last year and a string of other attacks. The Bali bombings killed 202 people while the hotel blast killed 12 people.

Rusdan's trial was adjourned until Jan 19 when prosecutors are due to recommend a sentence. - AFP