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AKARTA: National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said Sunday that the key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombing, Umar Patek, could face the death penalty if found guilty in his trial.

“He played a similar role to [convicted and executed Bali bomber] Imam Samudra,” he said.

Boy said Patek and his wife Ruqoyyah were being held at the Kelapa Dua Mobile Brigade detention center in Depok, West Java, after they were deported from Pakistan on Aug. 11.

Apart from the 2002 Bali bombing, Patek is believed to have been involved in the 2000 Christmas Eve bombing of churches across the country and being involved in a terrorist training camp in Aceh.

Boy said Ruqoyyah was arrested for allegedly using a forged passport. “She is a Philippines national but she obtained an Indonesian passport by assuming a false identity,” he said.