Indonesian police search for French man after Bashir arrest

Indonesian police are searching for a French man they believe is linked to a plot to launch Mumbai-style attacks on embassies and hotels. The manhunt follows Monday’s arrest of Islamist preacher Abu Bakar Bashir.

Reuters

Bashir was deeply involved in terror plots, inspired by the 2008 attacks in India, in West Java and Aceh provinces, police say.

Following raids in which five people were arrested on Saturday, they say they have proof that a group called “Al-Qaeda in Aceh” planned to attack embassies and hotels in the capital, Jakarta, as well as independence day celebrations to be attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono next week.

“We arrested Fahrul Tanjung and Hamzah in Cibiru, Bandung, where we also found a bomb lab along with a car, a Mitsubishi Gallant, which was prepared for use as a car bomb,” said police spokesperson Edward Aritonang. “The group received the car from a French man.”

The French national is still at large, he added.

Over 100 people have been arrested since the discovery of a training camp in Aceh in February. Police claim that Bashir funded the camp and received regular reports of activities there.

The 71-year-old cleric has been accused of being the spiritual leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group and served a prison sentence of nearly 26 months for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people. He was cleared and released in 2006.

He claimed that his arrest, during which five bodyguards were also detained for obstructing the arresting officer, was “engineered by America”.

Australia, a number of whose nationals died in the Bali bombings, welcomed the Bashir’s detention.