The whereabouts of Asia's alleged terror kingpin, Hambali, remained shrouded in secrecy yesterday amid reports that one of his lieutenants turned him in to Thai and US investigators.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to say where Hambali was being held by American authorities, but declared that the suspected bombing mastermind's entire al-Qaeda-linked network in Thailand had been wiped out with his arrest and that of three associates earlier.
The trail to Hambali, Asia's most-wanted man, was exposed by an "irregular money transaction" noticed by investigators, Thaksin said in his weekly radio address.
This "resulted in the arrest of the first case, the second, the third, and now we have got the fourth man -- Mr. Hambali -- who is regarded as the last one in our land," he said.
"Finally we have got them all," he said.
Hambali, 39, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was captured on Monday in the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya, 80km north of Bangkok. He is reputed to be the chief operative of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which originated in Indonesia.
Military sources say he was handed over to US investigators and flown out of the country on Wednesday.
Thaksin did not identify the three associates arrested earlier but one of them could be Zubair Mohamad, a Malaysian reportedly in Thai custody.
A Malaysian and Thai newspaper reported yesterday that Zubair provided information which led to Hambali's arrest.
Quoting unidentified sources, the Malay Mail said Zubair knew the where Hambali was and had "revealed all" shortly after he was arrested by US and Thai authorities.
The Nation of Thailand quoted Thai intelligence sources as saying that Zubair was arrested in southern Thailand in late July following a tip-off by Singaporean security agents. The sources would not say where Zubair is being held.
Zubair is believed to have been instrumental in Jemaah Islamiyah's financial dealings, The Nation said. Malaysian and Thai officials were not immediately available for comment.
On Friday, a Thai military source said Thailand expects to get a US$4 million reward for Hambali's capture but this could not be immediately confirmed. A US Embassy spokesman said he doesn't have immediate information about the reward.
"That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I wasn't able to find anything," said the spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
In a statement, US Ambassador Darryl Johnson said Hambali's "capture by Thai law enforcement personnel represents a major victory in the global war on terrorism and testifies again to Thailand's leading role in the community of peace-loving nations."
"The US is proud to have played a supporting role in this case," he said.
Residents of the apartment block where Hambali stayed for the last two weeks said a posse of plainclothes policemen smashed through the door of his house and took him after a violent struggle.
Thaksin said the arrest of Hambali and his three associates, all foreigners, was facilitated by information from "foreign countries."
Hambali is suspected of orchestrating the Oct. 12 Bali nightclub blasts that killed 202 people, the J.W. Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta on Aug. 5 in which 12 people died, and a spate of deadly explosions in the Philippines and terror plots elsewhere. He is also suspected of links to the Sept. 11 attackers.
Hambali, said to be Osama bin Laden's point man in the region, is also wanted in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Hambali is believed to have entered the country with a fake Spanish passport from neighboring Laos through a land border crossing, local newspapers reported.
Thaksin said he has instructed immigration officials at border crossings to be more vigilant in checking for fake passports.
The Nation reported on Friday that Hambali was plotting a terrorist attack for a forthcoming summit in Bangkok of Asia Pacific leaders, including US President George W. Bush. But this remains unconfirmed.
Indonesia has said it will seek Hambali's extradition for trial in Bali.
Malaysia also said Friday it wants to interrogate Hambali, who is believed to have hosted a meeting of senior al-Qaeda operatives, including two Sept. 11 hijackers, in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000.
A top al-Qaeda detainee has told US interrogators of Hambali's assignment to find more suicide hijackers not long after the Sept. 11 attacks, a senior Bush administration official said.
Thai authorities are believed to have known Hambali was in the kingdom in January last year.
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