The alleged Singaporean ringleader of a terror group instructed three Thai Muslims, who are currently on trial for terrorism, to kidnap foreign ambassadors and bomb embassies, a policeman testified Friday. Police Col. Pirapong Duangamporn told the Bangkok Criminal Court the Singaporean, Arifin bin Ali, confessed to the plot during questioning in police custody in Singapore.
"Mr. bin Ali, do you have anything to confess to?"
"Yes! If you'll kindly release my testicle..." |
The aim was to secure the release of arrested members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group in Singapore, Pirapong said. "Arifin said they had to threaten the embassies of the United States, Israel and Singapore to bargain for the release of JI members," the police officer said. Alternatively, Arifin told the Thai Muslims they "may have to kidnap ambassadors or businessmen from those countries and threaten to kill them or just kill them afterward," Pirapong said.
| "They're just infidels. You know, the meat you're not allowed to eat?" |
Thai police arrested Arifin in May and deported him to Singapore. A month later, four Thai Muslims were arrested on suspicion of plotting to blow up the embassies of the U.S., Britain, Israel, Singapore and Australia in the Thai capital.
| Quite the coincidence, eh? |
The four are on trial on charges of conspiring to harm national security, being members of an unlawful group, and assembling illegally to commit a crime. They have denied the charges, which carry a maximum 10-year prison term.
All are alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the regional wing of al-Qaida. Pirapong said Arifin mentioned only three of the suspects in the alleged plot, medical doctor Dr. Waemahadi Wae-dao, Islamic preacher Maisuri Haji Abdulloh, and manual laborer Samarn Wae-kaji, but not the fourth defendant, Maisuri’s son, Muyahi.
| There's always a preacher involved. You can't do that stuff without a fatwa, y'know. Muyahi's probably learning the family business. The Doc's probably the money man, and Samarn was supposed to be the muscle... |
He said Arifin had surveyed the areas around the targeted embassies. He quoted Arifin as saying that Waemahadi suggested adding the tourist destinations of Pattaya and Phuket to the bombing list.
| Pretty beachs liberally dotted with scantily clad maidens are certainly un-Islamic... I don't think most of them are maidens, though... |
Pirapong said they scheduled the attacks for June because it would be the tourist high season.
"They were going to drive explosive-packed cars to the targets at the same time," he said. "It was Arifin’s idea that they should plan the explosions at the same time to create chaos." Waemahadi also allegedly told Arifin that ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer ingredient that can be used for making explosives, would be easy to obtain from Thai farmers, Pirapong said.
| Don't underestimate farmers. Most of them aren't as dumb as they look... |
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