An alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people has been arrested in Pakistan, senior Indonesian and Pakistani officials said yesterday. A Pakistani security official said that Umar Patek has been arrested by Pakistani security agencies, but would not say when and where he was arrested. “Yes it is confirmed we have arrested him, he is in Pakistan,” the official said. He also said that Patek’s links to any militant group in Pakistan are being investigated. “Right now he is being interrogated,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “The Indonesians want access to him and they are coming,” he said, referring to Indonesian officials. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Bali, earlier Wednesday confirmed Patek had been arrested. Almost 90 Australians were killed in the Bali bombings. “For us it is clear that Patek has been arrested. Furthermore, it is our view that Patek’s arrest is potentially a major step forward in the fight against terrorism,” Rudd said. “His arrest might offer some small comfort to the nearly 100 Australian families who lost loved ones in the Bali bombings way back in 2002. Of course, his arrest does not bring anyone back.” Rudd said Patek was one of the last alleged Bali bombers still at large and Canberra would be “in the closest liaison” with Pakistan and Indonesia over “what happens next in this particular case”. US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel said it would be good news if true. Indonesian officials said a team comprising police and counter-terrorism agents had been sent to Pakistan. “Our intelligence team is verifying the information with the Pakistani authorities to confirm if the person arrested was really him,” National Anti-Terror Agency chief Ansyaad Mbai said. “If it’s him, then that’s really good news for us.” Indonesian counter-terrorism police have been tracking Patek for years. One of the most wanted Islamic extremists in Southeast Asia, he has a $1mn bounty on his head under the US government’s “Rewards for Justice” programme. Born in 1970, he was the alleged field coordinator for the massive explosions that flattened night clubs on Bali and placed mainly Muslim Indonesia on the front lines of the global battle against Islamic militancy. Patek is a suspected member of Al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for a series of deadly bombings targeting Christians and Westerners in Indonesia dating back to 1999. Indonesian authorities had believed he was hiding among Islamic rebels in the southern Philippines. The International Crisis Group think tank reported in 2008 that he had become the commander of foreign jihadists there. Patek reportedly returned to Indonesia early last year to join a new militant group being set up in Aceh province by another alleged Bali ringleader, Dulmatin. Dulmatin was killed during an Indonesian police raid in March 2010, and Patek disappeared from the radar. “Umar Patek is a dangerous person. He’s a bomb-making expert who teaches others how to assemble explosives. He’s an operational leader of Jemaah Islamiyah,” University of Indonesia security analyst Kusnanto Anggoro told AFP. “And he uses his expertise and influence to cause harm to people and to incite hatred. It’s a significant arrest,” he added. JI’s goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines in an Islamic state governed by a strict interpretation of sharia law similar to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The group has carried out more than 50 bombings in Indonesia that have claimed hundreds of lives, mainly Muslims, since April 1999. The last significant bombing in Indonesia—the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country—was carried out by two suicide attackers who killed seven people at two luxurious Jakarta hotels in July 2009. It was believed to be the work of Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top, who led a JI splinter group. Top was killed in September 2009.