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Zulkarnaen, thought to be one of the seniormost members of Al
Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiah, was arrested on
Sumatra island last week along with 22 others in a series of
raids.
After the group's charter plane had landed at Jakarta airport,
Zulkarnaen, who was wearing an orange shirt with a sarong, was
escorted by anti-terrorism police from the plane.
At a news conference at the airport, national police spokesman
Aswin Siregar desribed Zulkarnaen as "a very, very dangerous
person" for Indonesia and the world
Zulkarnean is believed to have been involved in making the bombs
that were used in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people and
the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that
killed 12 people.
Indonesia has been dealing with militant attacks for the past
two decades from groups such as Jemaah Islamiah, some of whose
members trained in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the southern
Philippines.
In the wake of the Bali attacks and with backing from Australia
and the United States, Indonesia set up an elite anti-terrorist
unit that helped weaken Jemaah Islamiah and resulted in scores
of suspected militants being arrested or killed.
But the ability of Zulkarnean to stay hidden for so long raises
questions about whether the group has managed to remain a force
and potentially regenerate.
Police spokesman Aswin told reporters authorities aimed to track
all the networks that helped him evade capture.
(Reporting by Tri Iswanto; Writing by Angie Teo; Editing by Ed
Davies)
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