Jakarta – Indonesia has extended the detention of four Muslim students deported from Pakistan because they are suspected of links to an accused terror kingpin and several bombings, police said on Friday.
National police chief Da'i Bachtiar told reporters the students had links to captured radical preacher Hambali, accused of being the top operative of Jemaah Islamiah, the Southeast Asian militant network.
"I can't go into details but they have connections to Hambali and there is information that relates to bombing cases here. But I can't explain now," Bachtiar said, adding that access to Hambali, who is in US custody, was key to unravelling the case.
Hambali was arrested in Thailand last August and is now in the custody of the United States, which has not entertained repeated requests from Jakarta for a chance to question the Indonesian-born militant directly.
The students, among whom is a younger brother of Hambali, had been held since December 12 and under Indonesia's anti-terror law would have had to be released after seven days unless they were officially declared suspects.
"Their status is they are now suspects," deputy national police spokesman Soenarko told Reuters, adding the status was imposed late on Thursday, a few hours before the deadline. Soenarko did not say for how long the detention had been extended. "It depends on our investigation," he said. Indonesian law allows the authorities to detain terror suspects for up to six months for investigation purposes.
The four students were part of a group of six Indonesians captured by Pakistani authorities in September during raids on Islamic seminaries in the port city of Karachi The operation also netted several Malaysian students some of whom have been described by news reports as belonging to "Al Ghuraba", a cell initiated by Hambali.
Singapore said on Tuesday it had detained two of its nationals who are part of that cell and were being groomed by Hambali's brother for future leadership roles in Jemaah Islamiah.
Bachtiar refused to comment on those cases, but an Indonesian investigator who declined to be named told Reuters that the reported cell was among the issues raised in interrogations.
Pakistan deported the six to Indonesia last week on grounds they could endanger the security of the South Asian country. Two of the group have been released because of insufficient evidence.
Soenarko said the other four are officially suspected of "giving help to and aiding terrorists", a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.
Jemaah Islamiah is linked to al Qaeda by some investigators and blamed for a series of attacks in the region, including the bombings of nightclubs in Indonesia's tourist hub of Bali last year that killed 202 people, mostly foreign holidaymakers.