Lampung police tighten surveillance of newcomers

Lampung Police have intensified their surveillance of immigration in the province, following Indonesia's recent increased anti-terror campaign.

Two Lampung residents were among 21 terrorist suspects arrested during a recent raid on a militarylike training camp in Aceh, which saw another three shot dead.

The two were Heru, 24, of Kotabumi, North Lampung, and Sulaiman, 25, of East Lampung.

One of the dead, with the initials MT, was also from Lampung.

Police intelligence and security director Sr. Comr. Surowo Hadi Siswoyo said the arrests showed that Lampung was still vulnerable to terrorism propaganda.

"Before being shot dead in Tangerang by the Detachment 88 antiterrorism squad, Dulmatin was planning to go to Lampung," Siswoyo said.

He was referring to the latest police raid, on Tuesday in Pamulang, Tangerang, in which three suspects were shot dead, including Dulmatin who was regarded as Indonesia's most-wanted terrorist. The other two were identified as Hasan Noer and Ridwan, his bodyguards.

The three were believed to have had links with the group in Aceh, providing financial support for the training camp.

"Heru comes from North Lampung, but he once lived with his parents-in-law in Way Jepara, East Lampung. MH said her husband was going to sell clothes at a market," village head Zainal said.

Zainal said MH and Heru's eldest son had cried out and fallen over on learning the news about Heru through a letter received on March 6.

"His family and relatives were not aware Heru was a member of terrorist network. Last month he sent his wife and two sons to the house of his parents-in-law. Heru said he was going to his elder sibling's place in Jambi, to work," Zainal said.

Siswoyo said the pair from Lampung were newcomers (in the cell) and had not been on the Lampung Police surveillance list.

"They do not have links to the Talangsari NII network. However, we are still monitoring Talangsari, East Lampung," he said.

The alleged rebel group in Talangsari, led by Warsidi, who reportedly sought to establish the Indonesian Islamic Nation (NII), was snuffed out in 1989 in a military operation. During the operation 37 people were reported to have been killed, although the real number was believed to be higher than the official figure.

Siswoyo called on neighborhood chiefs to report newcomers to police. He said many terrorist suspects were not registered, which made it easy for authorities to lose track of them.

"Last year a Singaporean masked himself as a pedicab driver before being nabbed in Bandarlampung for his links to terrorism. He appeared to have exploited weaknesses in our administrative data," he said.

Police have tightened surveillance at Bakauheni port and several regencies including East Lampung, South Lampung, North Lampung and Tulangbawang.

According to one intelligence source, 80 people are still on the surveillance list in relation to the Talangsari incident.

Being on the list, the survivors of the Talangsari tragedy are expected to suffer from being stigmatized. Talangsari village has also become isolated and is almost devoid of development. No electricity is installed there and its roads remain unsealed, although the village is situated not far from the Trans Sumatra highway.