| Submit your comments on this article |
| Fifth Column |
| Aussie linked to terrorist camp |
| 2003-01-16 |
| Jack Thomas, the Melbourne man being detained in Pakistan, has reportedly been linked to a terrorist training camp run by al-Qaeda in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Indonesian intelligence officials claim to have found a training video from the secret camp, where training was held in February and March 2001, according to a newspaper report today. Muchchyar Yara, an assistant to the chief of BIN, the Indonesian intelligence agency, told The Age newspaper Mr Thomas had featured in the video, along with al-Qaeda operatives from several countries. "At that training camp, he was training in bombs and explosives devices," Mr Yara told The Age. Mr Yara said that in Indonesia, Mr Thomas met terrorist leaders including Kuwaiti citizen Omar al-Faruq, allegedly al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's "ambassador" to South-East Asia, now in American custody. He said Mr Thomas also met the fugitive Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings; Ali Gufron, also known as Mukhlas, who is facing charges over crimes related to the bombings, and a man named Parlindungan, who was to run a branch of al-Qaeda in Spain. The training camp video was found in a raid on a house several months after the camp ended. Indonesians are believed to have passed a photograph of Mr Thomas taken from the video to Australian security organisations. Barrister Robert Stary, who represents the Thomas family, last night condemned the Indonesian allegations as "completely unsubstantiated" and coming from organisations "that are infamous and notorious for their inaccuracy and unreliability". |
| Posted by:Paul |