Author: IANS
Publication: Sify News
Date: April 12, 2007
URL: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14429170
An Australian police team had visited the
city to question a person in connection with bomb blasts in Indonesia's Bali
island in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 90 Australians.
Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police
M A Basith confirmed the visit of a two-member team of counter intelligence
wing of the Australian police. He, however, told newsmen that there was no
evidence of Hyderabad's links to the blasts.
Basith refused to reveal details like the
identity of the person questioned by the team.
The visit by Australian officials, who returned
on Wednesday after a three-day stay, had been kept under wraps.
Crime Investigation Department (CID) officials
said Australian officials approached them through Interpol but did not share
details of investigations with them.
The team reportedly questioned one Muslim
in the city but police here said they did not know how the man was connected
to the blasts. He is believed to be a witness in the case and his identity
is being kept a secret.
The visit by Australian officials sparked
speculations about the possible connection of Hyderabad-based people to Bali
blasts.
Indonesian cleric and leader of Jemaah Islamia
Abu Bakar Bashir allegedly masterminded the blasts in a nightclub. In 2005,
he was sentenced to 30 months in jail.
The visit by the Australian team came at a
time when police were on alert following intelligence inputs that terrorists
might target police officials or leaders of right-wing Hindu groups.
On April 1, a suspected agent of ISI Maqsood
Ahmed was arrested here following intelligence reports that a group of four
terrorists were in the city with plans to unleash violence.
Police sources said he was allegedly trying
to recruit youths for ISI activities.
Security agencies consider Hyderabad and surrounding
towns as hub of ISI operatives.
One policeman was killed and another injured
when a Bangladeshi suicide bomber blew himself up in the headquarters of the
city task force, a police wing, at Begumpet in the heart of the city on October
12, 2005.
The blast had occurred a stone's throw from
Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's official residence.
