Femi Adi & Agus Suhana – Pakistan's arrest two days ago of a suspect in the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, may shed light on terrorist networks in the region, according to an International Crisis Group adviser.
Pakistan notified Indonesian officials that it arrested a man believed to be Umar Patek, who is accused of helping carry out nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told reporters in Islamabad on March 31.
Patak's arrest "does not mean an end to terrorist attacks, only that his information may lead to better understanding of networks and therefore more scope for preventive programs," Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based senior adviser with Crisis Group, said in an e-mail yesterday.
Indonesia, a secular state with the world's biggest population of Muslims, has stepped up raids against terror suspects since 2009 bombings at Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people, including the two attackers.
Authorities have blamed Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked group, for bombings at hotels, nightclubs and embassies over the past decade that have claimed more than 200 lives.
Authorities sent a team to Pakistan to examine Patek, who was arrested along with his wife, Sutanto, head of the Indonesia Intelligence Agency, told reporters in Jakarta two days ago.
The officers will verify his identity through comparing his DNA and fingerprint records, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.
Terrorist links
Patek "will have information that everyone wants on the nature of terrorist links between Pakistan and Southeast Asia, between Indonesia and Mindanao, and perhaps between Mindanao and the Middle East," Jones wrote in the e-mail.
More than 500 US Special Operations troops are in Mindanao assisting Philippine troops in fighting terrorist groups, according to an army Web site. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has offered a $1 million reward for Patek. Seven US citizens died in the 2002 Bali attacks.
If Patek is deported to Indonesia, he'll need to be charged for either murder or for illegal possession and use of explosives because the country's antiterrorism law can't be applied retroactively, Jones said.
Police in 2002 described Patek as a Javanese Arab who lived in Indonesian towns such as Solo, Yogyakarta and Pemalang. He was accused of placing a getaway bike at a mosque to divert the attention of police, Chief Investigator I Made Mangku Pastika said at the time.
In September 2009, police killed militant leader Noordin Mohammad Top, who was suspected of involvement in every major anti-Western attack in Indonesia since 2002. In March of the same year they killed terrorist leader and suspected Bali bomber Dulmatin and two others.