Jakarta – Police announced Friday they were holding the overall leader of regional terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), identified as Zarkasih.
Also on Friday, another terrorist suspect arrested along with Zarkasih, Abu Dujana, said to head JI's armed wing, was shown on a tape saying that religious figure Abu Bakar Ba'asyir once led the group.
The head of the police's Special Detachment 88 anti-terror unit, Brig. Gen. Surya Dharma Salim, said Zarkasih was among seven detained terror suspects originally thought to be aides to Dujana.
He said Zarkasih went by several aliases, including Mbah (Grandfather), Zuhroni, Oni and Abu Irsyad. The suspects, including Dujana and Zarkasih, were arrested between June 9 and 11 in West and Central Java.
"Mbah was not Zulkarnaen, as we all had thought before," said Surya, referring to another suspected JI leader.
Surya alleged Zarkasih was in charge of all JI operations and activities in Indonesia. These activities, according to the officer, included hiding convicted terrorist Ali Gufron in Legian, Bali; helping the still on the run Noordin M. Top and the deceased bombmaker Azahari bin Husin carry out the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta; and planning the robbery of a Poso city administration building in Central Sulawesi, which netted around Rp 480 million (US$52,876).
During a media conference Friday, police showed taped interviews with Dujana and Zarkasih, and displayed photos of some of the victims of their alleged crimes. Dujana, the alleged chief of JI's special forces unit, is shown on the tape saying Ba'asyir was a former JI leader. Ba'asyir has always denied any links to terrorists or terrorist organizations.
"From 1993 to 2000, Jamaah was led by ustadz (teacher) Abdullah Sungkar, then he was replaced by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, from 2000 to 2002. Then from 2002 to 2003 (JI) was led by ustadz Abu Risyan. From 2003 to 2005 it was led by ustadz Adung, and from 2005 until now (it) was (led) by Zarkasih," Dujana says.
Ba'asyir was arrested, tried and sentenced in 2002 for immigration violations, before being released in 2004. He was then arrested for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings and was sentenced to 30 months' prison in March 2005. After two sentence remissions he was released in June last year.
On another videotape Zarkasih says he was named as the temporary JI leader in 2004 following the arrest of Adung, the then-leader of the group, in Surakarta, Central Java. "I was chosen in order to find a leader who is good in proselytizing and jihad," he says.
Surya said Zarkasih was the alleged mastermind behind much of the killings and bombings in Poso. "He sent explosives from Surabaya to Poso. He also sent ulema and mujahideen there," said Surya.
The officers said JI still exists and continues to recruit members and amass guns, ammunition and explosives. Police say the JI structure has been simplified and centralized, and has four wings: proselytism, education, logistics and the armed wing, which was allegedly led by Dujana.
Meanwhile, the deputy coordinator of the Muslim Lawyers Team, Achmad Midan, who said he had been appointed the legal representative of Dujana by the suspect's family, accused police of violating procedures in arresting his client.
He told The Jakarta Post that police shot Dujana "in front of his children without a warrant for his arrest".
[Additional reporting by Blontank Poer in Surakarta.]