JAKARTA, March 30 (Reuters) - Explosives found earlier this month under a house exceeded the amount used in the main device that exploded in the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesia's police chief said on Friday.

A bomb-laden mini-van killed more than 200 people and ripped through nightclubs in Bali's famed Kuta beachstrip on Oct. 12, 2002.

That bomb was believed to be the work of Malaysian Azahari Husin, the alleged bombmaker of Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiah militant network.

Police found at least 20 bombs and large quantities of bomb-making chemicals when they raided the house in Central Java more than a week ago.

The cache was found after arrests of suspected militants in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces.

"The discovered explosive materials had a large capacity. If they were assembled into one device, it could be more powerful than the one used in the first Bali bombing," Indonesia police chief General Sutanto told reporters.

In 2005, suicide bombers used smaller bombs strapped to their bodies in attacks that killed 20 people in three restaurants in Bali.

Asked who had bomb-making skills in Jemaah Islamiah since Azahari died during a raid in late 2005, Sutanto said the Malaysian had "many students" including a militant called Mujadid arrested in one of the March raids. Others were still at large.

Mujadid is wanted for his alleged links to deadly bombings near the Australian embassy in Jakarta three years ago and at a market in a Christian enclave in Sulawesi island's Poso region.

Jemaah Islamiah has been linked by police and intelligence officials to the blasts. Indonesia has already arrested hundreds for involvement in those attacks or with links to the group.

Authorities say several important militant leaders remain at large. Finding them is complicated by the operation of individual cells whose members do not necessarily know about the activities of others, and by ideological and tactical splits.

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