Court hears fixer raised money for Ba’asyir’s Aceh camp

An associate of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir testified Monday at Ba’asyir’s trial that he collected Rp 600 million (US$68,400) to fund Ba’asyir’s military-style training camp in Aceh.

Lutfi Haidaroh, also known as Ubaid, was allegedly a fixer and courier between firebrand Muslim cleric Ba'asyir and his Aceh field operatives. Ubaid told judges at South Jakarta District Court that he received about Rp 175 million from Ba'asyir.

He also said he had collected money from three other donors: Abu Thoyib (Rp 75 million), Syarif Usman (Rp 200 million) and Haryadi Usman (Rp 150 million).

Ba'asyir, the leader of the Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid Islamist group, instructed Ubaid to use the money to fund the training camp in Aceh, he said. Prosecutors in the case allege the camp was set up for terrorist training.

“I was told to go to Aceh to survey the military training,” Ubaid said through a teleconference as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He also said that Ba'asyir had asked him to coordinate with Abu Tholut to settle the technical aspects of the training. Abu Tholut is an alleged senior terrorist and mastermind behind a series of armed robberies across North Sumatra.

Ubaid said Ba'asyir had also met with Dulmatin. Dulmatin was a top terror suspect, shot dead in a police raid last year.

After his meeting with Ba’asyir, Ubaid testified that Ba'asyir asked to meet him at the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, which Ba’asyir heads. He then gave Ubaid Rp 5 million to monitor the Aceh camp, Ubaid told the court.