| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| McDonald’s bombing suspect surrenders to police |
| 2002-12-13 |
| Kahar Mustafa, the alleged supplier of a detonator used for the bombing on December 5 surrendered in the town of Sinjai near Makassar, a policeman on duty at the Sinjai precinct said. South Sulawesi provincial police chief Firman Gani said Mustafa gave himself up to "clarify his involvement" in the bombing. Wants to cut a deal to avoid death penalty? Three people, including one of the bombers, were killed in the blast. Police have declared 10 people to be suspects in the Makassar case, of whom seven, including Mustafa have been arrested, one other is dead and two are on the run. National police chief General Da'i Bachtiar says the Makassar bombers knew suspects in the October 12 bombing in Bali in which more than 190 people were killed. Mr Gani says the McDonald's bombers were part of the network that staged the Bali bombing. He says they also planned to bomb churches in Makassar and in other towns in South Sulawesi. Police are holding 15 suspects in the Bali case on the resort island. Meanwhile, the head of Indonesia's police investigation into the Bali bombings has confirmed details of another meeting of JI in Thailand. A key suspect has told investigators he met with other high-ranking members of JI in Thailand earlier this year. Head investigator General Pastika says the suspect, Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron, described to Indonesian police a meeting in Bangkok in February this year at which senior JI figures were present including regional operational chief Hambali. But General Pastika says Mukhlas has not told Indonesian police the alleged JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir was at the meeting, nor has he described the meeting as determining a specific target for a bombing attack. Those details were carried in a report in The Australian, which claims another suspect, named Wan Min, arrested two months ago by Malaysian police, has also given police information under interrogation about the Bangkok meeting. Good old fashioned truncheon, I mean, police work. |
| Posted by:Steve |