Indonesia has arrested a senior leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network for an alleged role in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings, a police spokesman said on Saturday.
Zulkarnaen, 57, was arrested in Lampung on Sumatra island on Thursday after spending nearly 18 years at large, Indonesian National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said.
Zulkarnaen “is now being interrogated” and anti-terror investigators were searching his residence, Argo said.
Photo: AFP
Zulkarnaen has been on Indonesia’s most-wanted list since the bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
“He was the military leader of Jemaah Islamiyah during the attack,” Argo said.
His cell is also believed to have helped carry out the suicide bombing at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel in 2003 that killed 12 people.
He was the only Indonesian listed on Washington’s “Rewards for Justice” program, with a bounty of up to US$5 million dollars.
Seperately, a firebrand Indonesian Muslim cleric was yesterday arrested for allegedly breaching COVID-19 restrictions after he held a series of sermons with tens of thousands of followers.
Rizieq Shihab’s arrest came just days after Jakarta police shot dead six followers of his hardline Islamist group in a highway shootout.
Shihab would be detained for 20 days to prevent him from fleeing and destroying evidence, police said.
“Another reason for the detention is for him not to repeat the offense,” Argo said yesterday.
If found guilty, he could face up to six years behind bars for breaching COVID-19 rules.
Shihab was welcomed by tens of thousands of followers at Jakarta International Airport on his return from exile last month, in contravention of a COVID-19 ban on gatherings.
As dozens who attended that gathering later tested positive for the virus, police summoned Shihab several times for questioning.
Indonesia has reported more than 600,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 18,500 deaths.
Despite restrictions, Shihab held sermons, a celebration of the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed and his daughter’s wedding — all of which were attended by thousands of people.
The leader of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI), Shihab fled to Saudi Arabia shortly after police named him a suspect in a pornography case in 2017, and remained in exile for three years.
Since his return, he has called for a “moral revolution.”
His FPI is notorious for targeting night clubs and other establishments it deems “immoral,” and has also attacked minority Muslim sects it considers “deviant.”
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