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Suspected terrorists arrested in Cambodia


Plainsdrifter

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Per CNN ... JI suspects arrested in Cambodia

 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) -- An Egyptian and two Thai Muslims arrested overnight in Cambodia have been charged with being members of the Islamic extremist network Jemaah Islamiah.

 

The three had been plotting to carry out attacks in Cambodia, a government official said on Wednesday.

 

"The prosecutor of the Phnom Penh court has charged them under the International Terrorism Act, and JI," court official Thong Sithan told Reuters, referring to their suspected membership of the Southeast Asian militant group linked by some Western and Asian governments to Osama bin Laden.

 

Under Cambodia's legal system, the case is now handed over to an investigating judge for further inquiries, a process that can take up to six months.

 

Security in the deeply impoverished southeast Asian nation has been tightened in recent weeks following suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco and in the run-up to a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on June 18.

 

Officials said Esam Mohamid Khidr Ali, a 40-year-old Egyptian, and two Thai nationals had been detained at a mosque just north of the capital on Tuesday evening.

 

The Thais were identified as 36-year-old Hajichiming Abdul Azi and Muhammadyalludin Mading, 41.

 

Authorities have been investigating whether the trio could have links to bin Laden's al Qaeda network, prime suspects in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

 

"Their aim was to commit acts of terrorism in Cambodia," one Interior Ministry official told reporters outside the court. "They had transferred cash from outside Cambodia into a Cambodian bank."

 

The U.S., British and Australian embassies in Phnom Penh all said they had been given no warning of the arrests.

 

Australia warned its nationals earlier this month to be extremely cautious in large crowds and public places such as bars and restaurants in many countries across southeast Asia.

 

The trio appeared in the spartan, grey-walled court wearing handcuffs and under a heavy police guard. In response to a question in English from Reuters, Esam Mohamid Khidr Ali said: "If you speak Arabic, I will talk to you."

 

Predominantly Buddhist Cambodia is home to a few hundred thousand ethnic Cham Muslims, and has so far remained free of any specific links to al Qaeda or the Islamic militancy that has hit other countries in the region.

 

However, its notoriously porous borders and poor law enforcement have led some security analysts to say it is a potential hiding place for guerrilla cells.

 

 

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Says whosyourdaddy:

"The Thais were identified as 36-year-old Hajichiming Abdul Azi and Muhammadyalludin Mading"

 

and I thought Noi was a difficult name to pronounce
;)

 

They aren't so wierd if you don't run them together:

 

Haji Chiming Abdul Aziz and Mohammad Alladin Mading

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