Hambali under Interrogation at Undisclosed Location: Thai PM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 16, 2003

Hambali under Interrogation at Undisclosed Location: Thai PM

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Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attributed the arrest of Asia's most-wanted terrorist suspect, Hambali, to the cooperation of the Thai authorities and intelligence agencies from other countries and revealed that the suspect was under interrogation.

Speaking at the weekly speech of state-run Channel 11 Saturday morning, the premier said that the arrest was the result of the cooperation between many security agencies, which took their responsibility very well. However, he could not disclose more details because Hambali was still under interrogation, he added.

"The arrest of three to four terrorists in the kingdom early before helps us to nab Hambali," Thaksin said, noting that Thai authorities had got many information from foreign counties and had noticed some illegal money inflows before the operation.

Thai police arrested four Thai Muslims accused of belonging to the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and plotting to bomb embassies and tourist spots during the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in July.

The Bangkok Post quoted a defense source as saying that the capture of Yazid Zubair, another senior JI figure, who was among the four suspects arrested last month, eventually led the intelligence to Hambali's trail.

The premier also said that Hambali was under interrogation, however he refused to disclose where the suspect was questioned.

"I can confirm he was arrested in Thailand," he said. "He is now under interrogation by allied countries in a location that I cannot disclose to you."

A security source was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying that Thai authorities had turned him over to the United States two days after his capture and that the Thai side did not know what happened after Wednesday, and that it was possible that Hambali is in the United States now.

Hambali, 40, dubbed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)as the "Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia," is wanted by Indonesia,Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in connection with a series of bomb attacks in the last two years.

He is also believed to be the operations mastermind of JI, headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, who has been charged with planning the bomb attack in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, mainly Australians.

According to the report of Nation newspaper, Hambali had traveled from Laos into Thailand through Chiang Khong border checkpoint in the northern province of Chiang Rai, 900 kilometers north of Bangkok, and then hidden among the Muslim community in Ayutthaya, 75 kilometers north of Bangkok.

He was accompanied by his wife Norran Viza, 35, a Malaysian, and another two assistants when he was arrested on Monday night on a tip from local residents.

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