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JAKARTA: Indonesian police said on Wednesday they had captured a top member of the Southeast Asian terror network blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and a string of other attacks in recent years.
Abu Dujana, believed to head a special forces unit within Jemaah Islamiyah – which has been linked to Al-Qaeda in the past – was among men detained in raids last weekend, police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto told a press briefing.
"The person that was arrested on Saturday, alias Yusron, has many aliases and one of them is Abu Dujana," Adiwinoto said, adding that he was known under at least six names.
Abu Dujana "is known to be more important than Noordin M. Top or Azahari Husin", he said, referring to two Malaysian members of JI. Azahari was killed in a police raid in November 2005.
Police had originally said they believed Yusron was an aide to Dujana. The 38-year-old is believed to have been tasked with collecting weapons and explosives for JI, police have said.
Dujana is also believed to have sheltered Noordin Muhammad Top, a fugitive wanted for his role in a series of attacks, including the 2002 atrocities in Bali which left 202 people dead. He is believed to head a militant JI splinter group.
Noordin has been described as Southeast Asia's most wanted man and has repeatedly eluded Indonesian police.
Adiwinoto said that possible charges to be laid against Dujana would be terrorism, ownership of explosives, sheltering suspects and conspiracy to carry out crimes.
Seven other suspects had been arrested after Dujana's capture in Central Java, the youngest aged 17, Adiwinoto said without elaborating.
The spokesman said police had been on Dujana's trail since a flurry of arrests and seizures in March.
JI has been blamed for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, which together killed more than 220 people, and the 2003 Marriott Hotel and 2004 Australian embassy attacks in the capital Jakarta.
The United States says JI aims to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia through violent jihad.
- AFP/so
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