| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Singapore Detains Two Suspected Islamic Militants |
| 2004-01-14 |
| EFL: Singapore has detained two more suspected Islamic militants, including the father-in-law of slain Indonesian bomb-maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, in connection with a 2001 plot to blow up Western targets. The arrests, one made late last year and the other in 2002 but announced Wednesday, bring to 37 the number of suspected Muslim militants detained in Singapore, where officials say a threat from Southeast Asia extremist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) lingers. One of the detained, Hosnay bin Awi, was trained in the Philippines by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an Islamic militant rebel group, the Ministry of Home affairs said. The other man, Alahuddeen bin Abdullah, was an MILF soldier who fought against the Philippine army, the ministry said. Those Phillipine training camps keep popping up, SE Asia’s new Afghanistan. He was detained in Singapore in October 2002 but the government only announced his arrest Wednesday, without saying why it was doing so now. The info they may have gotten from him has gone stale. Both were arrested under Singapore’s Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial for up to two years. Hosnay, arrested after returning from Indonesia in November, was the father-in-law of al-Ghozi, one of the most wanted men in Asia before he was gunned down by Philippine police last year. Cue the "Family Affair" theme song. He had fled Singapore during sweeps on Islamic militants in 2001 and 2002 but was found by police in neighboring Indonesia and jailed while working in a shop run by the Jemaah Islamiah, the Home Affairs statement said. |
| Posted by:Steve |