Australia raids terror suspects
( 2002-10-31 10:34 ) (7 )

Police and intelligence agents have raided at least three homes to find out whether the radical Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah, suspected in the deadly Bali bombing, is active in Australia, the government said Wednesday.

Attorney-General Daryl Williams confirmed that police and the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization were conducting operations as "part of a wider and ongoing investigation into the possible presence of Jemaah Islamiyah in Australia."

Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to have close ties to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network and reportedly has set up cells throughout Southeast Asia in its bid to establish an Islamic Asian superstate.

Federal police raided the Sydney home of an Indonesian Muslim, Ali Basri, on Wednesday afternoon and took his eldest son into custody for being in Australia on an expired visa. The son's name was not immediately known.

On Sunday, intelligence agents and police had raided the home of Basri's younger son, Jaya Fadly Basri, 30, where he lives with his wife and family. Police searched for five hours, made no arrests, but took away leaflets, according to the Basri's attorney, Stephen Hopper.

The Sunday raid occurred a few hours after the government declared Jemaah Islamiyah a terrorist organization, amid heightened terror fears in Australia following the Oct. 12 bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed almost 200 people, including about 90 Australians.

Listing a group as terrorists enables the government to quickly prosecute members or supporters under tough new laws enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Those laws carry maximum prison terms of up to 25 years.

The group's alleged spiritual leader, Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, has been charged in Indonesia with ordering a string of church bombings in 2000.

Hopper said Jaya Basri had once attended lectures by Bashir in Australia, but denied his client was involved with Jemaah Islamiyah.

Hopper said Basri had downloaded articles by Bashir and other Islamic clerics from the Internet and distributed them among Sydney's Indonesian community.

"I make clear to you I have not supported any terrorism activities or organizations," Jaya Basri told reporters on Wednesday.

Hopper accused police and intelligence officers of using heavy-handed tactics during the five-hour raid. "You have got to question the need for people to go in with guns drawn and ... sledgehammers to break down doors," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Early Wednesday morning in Western Australia state, armed police also raided the home of another Indonesian Muslim family.

"There were six or eight uniformed police officers with the black helmets, the black balaclavas, the black flak jackets ... like it was from a movie scene, submachine guns off their shoulders," a neighbor, Helena Joyce, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Williams confirmed the raids but refused to provide more details.

"Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to investigate individuals and organizations of a security concern," he said.

Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said police and intelligence agencies had made 35 similar raids in Australia since Sept. 11 last year, but had not charged anyone with terrorism. He said the government was "terrorizing" people who had attended Bashir's lectures.