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| Top dog: In this 2007 file photo obtained by the Associated Press from a Philippine security official, Indonesian militant Umar Patek addresses fellow militants in an Abu Sayyaf mountain encampment on Jolo island in southern Philippines. Patek had a US$1 million bounty on his head when he was captured in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad Jan. 25, four months before Osama bin Laden was killed there in a US commando attack. (AP/File) |
AnIndonesian militant who allegedly made the explosives used in the 2002 Balibombings was escorted home under tight security Thursday, more than six monthsafter he was captured in northwest Pakistan.
Umar Patekhad a $1 million bounty on his head when authorities caught up with him Jan. 25in Abbottabad - the same town where Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S.commando attack four months later.
Indonesia'santi-terrorism chief, Ansyaad Mbai, told The Associated Press it did not appearto be a coincidence that they were in the same place.
"It'sfurther evidence of the link between the Southeast Asian terror network andal-Qaida," he added, hours before the 41-year-old boarded an Indonesianplane sent to a Pakistani air force base.
Patektouched down outside Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, on Thursday morning and wastaken straight to a police detention center in the West Java town of Kelapa Duawhere he will await trial, he said. No date has been announced.
Indonesianofficials say Patek has confessed to playing a key role in the 2002 Balibombings, which killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists, including 88Australians.
He alsoadmitted to making the bombs used in a string of Christmas Eve attacks onchurches in 2000 that claimed 19 lives, they say.
But becausetough anti-terror laws passed after the Bali blasts cannot be applied retroactively,he will likely be charged with illegal possession of explosives, Mbai said.
Even thoughthat charge also carries a maximum penalty of death, there are concerns hemight get off easy.
Indonesia,the nation with the most Muslims in the world, has been hit by a string ofterrorist attacks blamed on Patek's regional militant group, Jemaah Islamiyah,but none as deadly as the Bali blasts.
A highlypraised anti-terrorism campaign in the country of 240 million has seen hundredsof suspects arrested and convicted in recent years, but Patek is one of thebiggest to have been captured alive.
His arrestin Abbottabad raised questions over whether he was there to meet bin Laden,something that would challenge theories that the al-Qaida chief was cut offfrom his followers.
U.Sofficials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, have saidit appeared to be a coincidence.
But Mbaicountered that Wednesday.
Severalother militants - from Asia and Europe to the Middle East - also were arrestedin the same region of northwest Pakistan at the time of Patek's arrest, hesaid.
They hadgathered there in hopes of meeting bin Laden, but it was not clear if they'dsucceeded or were planning a new terror strike.
"Patekwas very valuable for the U.S.," Mbai said. "He helped leadauthorities to bin Laden."
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