JAKARTA - Indonesian police said yesterday they had arrested a Malaysian suspected of having transported explosives which were later used in last year's suicide bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

Amran Mansyur alias Andi Saputra was arrested at Solo in Central Java province last Thursday, national police spokesman Brigadier General Sunarko Danu Ardanto was quoted by Detikcom news portal as saying.

Ardanto said Amran was suspected of having transported explosives from Pekanbaru in Riau province to Jakarta, where they were later used in the attack on the JW Marriott hotel in August last year.

The bombing killed a Dutch banker and 11 Indonesians.

The police spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment.

Ardanto denied earlier reports that police had arrested a man called Dahlan in the East Java town of Ngawi on Thursday.

Linked to al-Qaeda

The Marriott hotel attack is blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah regional terror network, which is also accused of the Bali bombings of October 2002 and a string of other attacks.

An Indonesian court last week sentenced to 10 years in jail a man found guilty of having stored raw materials to build the bomb used in the hotel blast.

Four men are on trial in Jakarta for their alleged roles in the Marriott bombing and several others trials are due to follow.

Malaysian explosives expert Noordin Mohammad Top and Azahari Husin are the key suspects still being hunted for their role in the Marriott attack and in the Bali blasts which killed 202 people. - AFP