'Smuggler' Zamin Ali nabbed in Indonesia at request of Attorney-General

THE suspected people-smuggler Zamin Ali was arrested in Indonesia at Australia's request, the Attorney-General's Department says

ZAMIN Ali, the suspected people-smuggler Australian authorities gave up on prosecuting when he was almost within their grasp, was arrested in Indonesia at Australia's request, the Attorney-General's Department has confirmed.

The Attorney-General's Department last Friday withdrew its application to extradite Ali, better known in Indonesian smuggling circles as Haji Sakhi, three days before he was to be released from prison in Mataram, Lombok.

The 56-year-old Pakistani citizen had been one of four people-smuggling suspects Canberra was seeking to extract from Indonesia for prosecution in Australia.

But while Indonesian authorities were preparing to expedite Ali's extradition once his jail term ends, a review of the case in Canberra belatedly concluded a prosecution was unlikely to succeed.

"The extradition request was withdrawn because the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions advised that, having reviewed the available evidence, it was no longer satisfied that there were reasonable prospects of success of the prosecution," a spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department said yesterday. She confirmed, however, that Ali's arrest in September 2009, which led to him being sentenced to 2 1/2 years jail on local immigration charges, was "pursuant to a request made by Australia".

The Australian reported yesterday that Ali had been arrested earlier by Indonesian police on people smuggling-related charges but it appears he was released on that occasion.

Two other high-level smuggling suspects Australia is seeking to extradite and prosecute, Sayed Abbas and Sajjad Hussain Noor, are in custody in Jakarta having also been arrested at Australia's request last year. The whereabouts of the fourth suspect, Amanullah Rezaie, is unknown.

Ali, by reputation a prolific smuggler whose activities in Indonesia go back more than a decade, is being held at Immigration Department headquarters in Jakarta.

Sources said the department was awaiting a travel document from Pakistan so he could be deported there as soon as possible.

Sources close to the people-smuggling business in Jakarta say Ali, who has an Indonesian wife, has been deported to Pakistan at least once before but returned to resume business in Indonesia.

While jailed in Mataram, sources say, Ali's group continued people-smuggling activities.