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2 foreigners arrested
for possible links with terrorists
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The
Jakarta Post
September 28, 2002
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2 foreigners arrested for
possible links with terrorists
National News - September 28,
2002
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta
Post, Medan
Two Bangladeshi men with suspected
links to international terrorist networks were arrested in Medan,
North Sumatra on Thursday night, a police official said on Friday.
The two foreigners, identified as
Huseiri alias Iqbal, 27, and M. Tana Chouduri, 30, were nabbed
from a hotel on Jl. Sisingamangaraja in Medan, according to North
Sumatra Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim.
"The two suspects entered
Medan without proper immigration documents. Currently, the police
are still investigating their possible involvement with
international terrorist networks," Amrin told The Jakarta
Post Friday night.
But the two suspects, according to
Amrin, insisted that they were not part of any terror group.
Amrin said the police confiscated
from the two men, Indonesian identity cards and passports, 11
cellular phone cards, a bank account book with a balance of Rp 52
million (US$5,700) and gold jewelry.
He said the police had arrested
them after receiving complaints from cell phone operator PT
Telkomsel, and from two women, Nurhayati and Yustina, who claimed
to have been cheated by the two foreigners.
According to Amrin, the two
suspects entered Medan together with Nurhayati from Malaysia last
month. Nurhayati herself initially worked in Malaysia.
Nurhayati was quoted by Amrin as
saying that she agreed to leave Malaysia, after working there for
seven months, and came back to Medan as Huseiri alias Iqbal
promised to marry her.
Arriving in Medan, the two, with
the help of Nuryahati's family, processed Indonesian identity
cards so that they could marry quickly. Then, they made family
cards, with which they got a local cell phone number under
Nuryahati's name.
Tana Chouduri also purchased a
Telkomsel phone number from Yustina.
The two made calls to 24 countries,
including Malaysia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Bangladesh and India. They also made calls to conflict areas such
as Aceh and Poso in Central Sulawesi.
These calls, made in only 10 days,
cost a total Rp 500 million (US$55,000). But when Telkomsel billed
Nuryahati and Yustina, the two claimed that they had not used the
phones.
According to Amrin, the two
Bangladeshis told the police that they were Acehnese. But Amrin
said they could not speak Acehnese and only a little Indonesian.
Amrin said the two claimed to have
received a wire transfer of some Rp 180 million from a Pakistani
named Hasan.
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