Bangkok, Aug 15: Al Qaeda's Asian mastermind Hambali was arrested in Thailand's ancient capital of Ayuthya this week and has been flown to Indonesia, Thai Defence Minister Thamarak Issarangkun Na Ayutthaya said today.
Hambali and his wife were arrested on Monday and extradited to Indonesia in an operation conducted with "the cooperation of many countries," Ayutthaya told reporters.
He said they were sent to Indonesia instead of being transported to a US territory "because he is an Indonesian citizen and he is alleged to have committed a lot of crimes there".
However, reports from Jakarta quoted Indonesia's police chief as saying that Hambali was still "in another country".
The arrest of Riduan Isamuddin, popularly known as Hambali, was first announced by US President George Bush yesterday.
Hambali, a chief of the Jemaah Islamiya outfit, was arrested on "suspicion of plotting to stage a terrorist attack during the APEC Summit in Bangkok in October", Thai daily 'the nation" reported.

Wanted by police in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, Hambali is suspected of being involved in several recent attacks, including the August 05, bombing of the J W Marriot hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and injured 150.

Hambali was born in a poor family in Indonesia's west Java province in 1966, before becoming involved in the Jemaah Islamiya network as a teenageer.
Bureau Report