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TRANSFER TO JAKARTA: Anti-terror police escorting one of the suspects who were arrested in Palembang off the plane after arriving at the Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in the Indonesian capital yesterday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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THE arrest of 10 terror suspects in Indonesia, including a Singaporean, is significant as it includes 'a couple of big fish', analysts say.
Analysts even say that the Singaporean arrested is so closely related to Mas Selamat Kastari that his arrest is as significant as that of Mas Selamat.
The Singaporean was the first to be arrested when Indonesia's crack anti-terror squad, Detachment 88, swooped down on Sekayu, near Palembang, South Sumatra.
While police have identified him only by the initials M.H., terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said the Singaporean terror suspect is Mohammed Hassan.
'He was a member of the Mas Selamat Kastari group that attempted to hijack a plane in Bangkok and planned to attack Changi Airport,' he said.
'So, the arrest of Mohammed Hassan is a very significant achievement to Singapore because he presents a threat comparable to Mas Selamat.'
Dr Gunaratna heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
It is believed that the Singaporean suspect had trained in Afghanistan, where he was believed to have met Osama bin Laden several times.
This could mean that he was among the earlier batch of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) operatives who managed to escape the first round of Internal Security Department operations in December 2001.
Mr Ken Conboy, a security consultant based in Jakarta, told The Straits Times he believes that the Singaporean's involvement in JI goes 'many years back'.
This is because he was apparently recruited by Abu Jibril himself, who has not been active for many years, and has met other JI honchos, including Azahari Husin, who was killed in a shoot-out in 2005.
'I think they have got a couple of big fish,' International Crisis Group director Sidney Jones told Reuters.
A Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman has confirmed that the Singaporean arrested in Indonesia is not Mas Selamat, who took over as head of Singapore's JI chapter in 1999. He escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27.
Indonesian police spokesman Abu Bakar Nataprawira confirmed that the Singaporean identified by his initials M.H. is 'in the group of Mas Selamat bin Kastari'.
He also said that M.H., a 35-year-old English teacher, had been captured after an alert from Singapore that he was involved in the JI, adding that the man was a bomb-making expert.
JI has been blamed for most of the major attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people.
With the capture of several of its key leaders and the death of Azahari, a Malaysian engineer who was touted as JI's bomb expert, JI's militant wing is believed to have been seriously weakened.
But Mr Conboy, who wrote The Second Front: Inside Asia's Most Dangerous Terrorist Network, said it is interesting that the arrests took place in Palembang.
'Previously, police have said that the JI network has been reduced to only four known cells in Java,' he said, adding that these are in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.
Some reports have said that Malaysian Noordin Top, the suspected mastermind of a few of the Indonesian bombings, was believed to be hiding in Palembang early last year and could possibly have started a splinter terrorist group.
Inspector-General Abu Bakar of the Indonesian police said that all of the men captured were linked to Noordin's network in Semarang and Wonosobo in Central Java.
Indonesian police believe Noordin is behind all four major attacks in the country since 2002.
But Mr Conboy said Palembang is 'not connected with radical Islam', and that this, in fact, may be why they are hiding there.
He said that if it is true they are starting a new cell there, it would be a cause for concern.
Dr Gunaratna said the arrest 'clearly demonstrates' that there is 'a very active threat of terrorism from JI to South-east Asia, including Singapore'.
He believes the JI network is working closely with other terror groups in the region.
'The terrorist network that is currently active in Indonesia is regional, made up of Singaporeans, Indonesians, Malaysians and Filipinos,' said Dr Gunaratna.
While praising the Singapore authorities' efforts at countering terrorism, Dr Gunaratna warned that the 'threat of terrorism is enduring'.
'Singapore still faces the threat. Every Singaporean has to be alert and vigilant at all times,' he said.
zarahim@sph.com.sg
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