T

he National Police confirmed here Friday that they had arrested Bahrudin Latif, alias Baridin, one of the father-in-laws of slain Malaysian terrorist leader Noordin M. Top in a West Java fishing village.

"We confirmed the information about Baridin's arrest. The police nabbed him in Garut regency, West Java, on Thursday morning, at 5 a.m.," deputy police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak told Antara on Friday.

Noordin M. Top, who was killed in a police raid at a house in Surakarta last September, Central Java, married Baridin's daughter, Arina. Arina was Noordin's third wife.

Baridin went into hiding after the police arrested terrorist suspect Saefudin Zuhry at Nusawungu, Cilacap, last June. Later the police found explosives in the garden of Baridin's house in Cilacap.

Police said earlier that Baridin had disguised himself as a fisherman in Garut, for months before they arrested him on Thursday morning.

Tempointeraktif.com reported that Baridin worked as a fisherman at Pamalayan village, Cikelat district, Garut regency. This is close to the National Space Agency's (LAPAN) rocket launching site.

TVOne reported earlier that the police arrested Baridin on West Java's south coast, at the border between West and Central Java.

Antara reported people in Baridin's village of Pasuruan, in the Binangun district in Cilacap regency, Central Java, welcomed his arrest.

"We feel relieved after knowing the news that Pak Baridin has been arrested so that the problem of terrorism would not anymore cloud our village," Pasuruan village head Watim Suseno was quoted by Antara as saying.

Watim claimed that people in Pasuruan had repeatedly urged the family of Baridin to ask him to surrender to the police.

"With his arrest, we hope that the law will solve this problem," he said.

However, police and observers have warned that terrorist cells across the country are still actively recruiting members and planning future attacks despite Baridin's arrest and the deaths earlier this year of several top fugitives.

"The death of *most-wanted terrorist* Noordin *M. Top* hasn't stopped these terrorists," said Detachment 88 head Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian.

"Our investigations show his remaining cells are still active today."

"We must be extra careful, as even small-scale horizontal conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims could easily degenerate into terror activities," Tito said.

He added police had also managed to trace the funding of terrorist activities back to foreign donors.

Tito said the police were currently attempting to de-radicalize people involved in terrorist activities, adding de-radicalization programs were the force's main hope for dismantling radical ideology.

Noordin was the prime suspect behind the July 17 JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings in Kuningan, South Jakarta, when five people were killed and 55 injured.

He was also widely believed to be responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.