Bali bomb suspect nabbed in Pakistan
Source: Agencies |
March 31, 2011, Thursday
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PAKISTAN has arrested a much sought after Indonesian al-Qaida militant suspected in the 2002 bombing of a Bali nightclub and will turn him over to Jakarta, a Pakistani intelligence official said yesterday.
The official did not say when or where Umar Patek was arrested, but according to the Philippines army, which has also been hunting him, he was seized on January 25 along with a Pakistani associate believed to have been giving him shelter.
The arrest of Patek, who has a US$1 million American price on his head, is a major victory in the global fight against al-Qaida and - since he was taken alive - could provide very valuable intelligence about regional militant networks and possible future plots.
Indonesia's top police detective, Lieutenant General Ito Sumardi, said he only received a report of Patek's arrest a few days ago and was sending teams to Islamabad to identify him.
Sumardi said he was concerned over how Patek was able to travel across international borders to get here.
Patek, 40, is well-known to intelligence agencies across the world and is believed to have served as the deputy field commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesian al-Qaida affiliate that carried out the Bali nightclub bombings that left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. He's also suspected in at least two other suicide bombings in Jakarta in 2003 and 2009.
Patek spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s with about 300 other Southeast Asian militants and together they formed the nucleus of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Since 2002, however, Indonesia has rounded up or killed many top militants and he was one of the most senior members of the group still on the run.
News of his arrest initially came from intelligence officials in Indonesia and the Philippines on Tuesday. Yesterday, a Pakistani intelligence official confirmed the capture, but declined to give any further information. The officer said Patek was currently being questioned by Pakistani agents.
"It is our policy to send them back to their country of origin. We will eventually give him to the Indonesians," he said.
After the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan is known to have detained a significant number of foreign al-Qaida operatives and secretly sent them to the United States, where many were detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The CIA, which still cooperates closely with Pakistan intelligence agencies, would presumably like to have access to Patek, but the Pakistani officer said this would happen only with the consent of Indonesia, which too has worked closely with the US in the past.
One of Patek's suspected co-conspirators in the nightclub bombing, known as Hambali, was arrested in Thailand in 2003 and sent to the US, where he is now being held in Guantanamo.
The official did not say when or where Umar Patek was arrested, but according to the Philippines army, which has also been hunting him, he was seized on January 25 along with a Pakistani associate believed to have been giving him shelter.
The arrest of Patek, who has a US$1 million American price on his head, is a major victory in the global fight against al-Qaida and - since he was taken alive - could provide very valuable intelligence about regional militant networks and possible future plots.
Indonesia's top police detective, Lieutenant General Ito Sumardi, said he only received a report of Patek's arrest a few days ago and was sending teams to Islamabad to identify him.
Sumardi said he was concerned over how Patek was able to travel across international borders to get here.
Patek, 40, is well-known to intelligence agencies across the world and is believed to have served as the deputy field commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesian al-Qaida affiliate that carried out the Bali nightclub bombings that left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. He's also suspected in at least two other suicide bombings in Jakarta in 2003 and 2009.
Patek spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s with about 300 other Southeast Asian militants and together they formed the nucleus of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Since 2002, however, Indonesia has rounded up or killed many top militants and he was one of the most senior members of the group still on the run.
News of his arrest initially came from intelligence officials in Indonesia and the Philippines on Tuesday. Yesterday, a Pakistani intelligence official confirmed the capture, but declined to give any further information. The officer said Patek was currently being questioned by Pakistani agents.
"It is our policy to send them back to their country of origin. We will eventually give him to the Indonesians," he said.
After the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan is known to have detained a significant number of foreign al-Qaida operatives and secretly sent them to the United States, where many were detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The CIA, which still cooperates closely with Pakistan intelligence agencies, would presumably like to have access to Patek, but the Pakistani officer said this would happen only with the consent of Indonesia, which too has worked closely with the US in the past.
One of Patek's suspected co-conspirators in the nightclub bombing, known as Hambali, was arrested in Thailand in 2003 and sent to the US, where he is now being held in Guantanamo.
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