Indonesia sends police to confirm Bali bomb terrorist arrest in Pakistan

[News_Editor]

Indonesia sends police to confirm Bali bomb terrorist arrest in Pakistan

2011-03-30 20:05:18 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- The government of Indonesia announced on Wednesday that a police team has been deployed to Pakistan to review the arrest of Indonesian terrorist Umar Patek, who is also wanted in the Southeast Asian country and linked to the Bali bombing.

Patek is Indonesia's most wanted terrorist fugitive and has been linked to the first Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian nationals and other foreign citizens.

Indonesia's National Police Public Relations officer Inspector General Anton Bachrul Alam told Antara news agency that their Interpol was sent to Pakistan to cooperate with the country's police forces to check the "the truth of the information."

Despite the reports, however, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry has not received confirmation of Patek's arrest, which was reportedly carried out earlier in the month.

Patek, who is also known as Abdul Goni and Abu Syiekh, is believed to be a member of a group, which carried out military and fighting exercises in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1980's and 1990s.

The wanted fugitive later formed Jemaah Islamiyah, and then organized a series of suicide bombings targeting nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, offices and embassies of Western countries in Indonesia.

After the Bali bombing, Patek was believed to have fled to the Philippines, and in March 2010, the Jamestown Foundation, a national security policy reviewer institution in Washington, believed he was in Sulu province, southern Philippines.

The reported arrest in Pakistan is raising questions on how the top terrorist fugitive could have fled the country.

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