By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, November 21 (IslamOnline) - Indonesian police on Thursday, November 21, arrested the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombing that killed 190 people on October 12th, news agencies said.

Imam Samudra, 35, alias Abdul Azis, was arrested while traveling in a bus parked on a ferry, transiting to Bakahuni, a village near Lampung, the Republika newspaper said.

Police had a tip off from two of his friends arrested earlier. He is currently being held by police in a safe place still unknown to the public.

Police said it will not reveal where Samudra is being held in the interest of peace in the country.

Indonesian National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar himself announced the arrest of the suspect to the local press, adding that the Imam will not be brought to Jakarta immediately to prevent any trouble in the capital city.

Imam Samudra is accused by police of being the mastermind of the Bali blast and he is co-accused with 35-year-old Idris, alias Jhoni Hendrawan, who also participated in the bombing.

According to Made Mangku Pastika, head of the investigation team in Bali, Imam Samudra is his real name but he also has different names such as Fatih, alias Fat, Kudarna Abu Umar and Heri.

Imam Samudra and Idris, the police said, were the ones who organized the bombing and planned everything from the beginning. Imam Samudra went into hiding after the bomb went off.

Police said he was hiding in a boarding school in Minang, where he was born.

The police add that the first meeting about the Bali blast took place on August 2002 in a café in Solo, East Jawa.

In the meeting, Samudra and Idris were accompanied by Amrozi, 40, who was the first to be arrested.

The meetings also took place in Amrozi’s house in Lamongan, East Jakarta.

It is a combined team of international investigators that pursued Samudra until his arrest in the most regular way by the local police.

He was taken out of the bus from the ferry without any struggle after he surrendered to the officers who came to arrest him, sources said.

There is no further information on the arrest. But it is clear that the investigation in the Bali bombing has reached a new level, the same source added.

Although reports suggest Samudra was close to scholar Abu Bakar Basyir, police in Indonesia said they were certain the aging leader of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, (MMI) was not involved in the Bali bombing.