Indonesia arrests alleged leader of Singapore Jemaah Islamiah

7.45am

JAKARTA - Indonesian police said on Monday they had arrested the suspected head of the Singapore branch of Jemaah Islamiah, a Muslim militant network accused of planning or carrying out attacks across Southeast Asia.

Erwin Mapasseng, chief of the Indonesian criminal investigation bureau, named the arrested man as Mas Selamat Kastari and said he had been seized on the Indonesian island of Bintan off Singapore on Sunday.

"We have arrested Mas Selamat Kastari, a Singaporean whose position is the 'wakalah' in Singapore," he told reporters, referring to a country head in the Jemaah Islamiah structure.

Authorities have been searching for Kastari, accused by Singapore of planning to crash a plane into Singapore's Changi airport, since he arrived in the province of North Sumatra last year. Mapasseng said Kastari had been caught after he got off a ferry from the oil town of Dumai on Sumatra island.

"We caught him in (Bintan's main city of) Tanjung Pinang after following him from Dumai. He was carrying a fake identity card and passport," Mapasseng said.

"He was hunted by Interpol for involvement in the planning of a hijack of a plane flying from Bangkok to Singapore," he said.

According to the Singapore government's white paper on Jemaah Islamiah, Kastari was also involved in the planning of an attack on a bus carrying US military personnel to a Singapore train station.

Neither attack occurred.

It is unclear whether Indonesia will send Kastari to Singapore anytime soon. He may have to face immigration charges first for using fake documents in Indonesia. There is no extradition treaty between the neighbours although Indonesia has repeatedly pressed Singapore for one.

The Singapore government said it was investigating the identity of the man and working with Indonesian authorities.

"Our Indonesian counterparts have informed us of the arrest of a Singaporean who is purportedly Mas Selamat Kastari," said Ong-Chew Peck Wan, a spokeswoman at Singapore's Home Ministry. "We will be taking action to confirm his identity."

"We will continue to work closely with our Indonesian counterparts," she said.

Indonesian police have linked Jemaah Islamiah to the October 12 Bali bombings that killed nearly 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. The network has also been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Indonesian police have in custody Jemaah Islamiah's alleged top spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, who is accused of involvement in church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000, and Mukhlas, another senior figure in the group, who is a key suspect in the Bali bombing case.

- REUTERS

Full coverage: Bali bomb blast