TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Antiterror raid Police arrest two more suspects in Aceh

Police have arrested two of 14 suspects wanted for their involvement in terrorist activities in Aceh, National Police chief Gen

Hans David Tampubolon and Hotli Simanjuntak (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Banda Aceh
Thu, March 18, 2010

Share This Article

Change Size

Antiterror raid Police arrest two more suspects in Aceh

P

olice have arrested two of 14 suspects wanted for their involvement in terrorist activities in Aceh, National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Wednesday.

The arrest of Marzuki and Maulana from Bireuen and Lhokseumawe came after the pair surrendered themselves to local police on Tuesday, Bambang said. Police also seized an M-16 rifle and three pistols.

“This was the report that reached me as soon as I arrived back in Jakarta,” Bambang said at the State Palace as quoted by kompas.com.

“We are still hunting for the remaining 12 terrorist suspects.”

Bambang visited Aceh on Tuesday, a few days after the police shot dead two terrorist suspects, who had been linked to a group that was raided in Pamulang, south of Jakarta, last week.

Separately in Aceh, a terrorist suspect identified as Muktar surrendered himself to Lhokseumawe Police on Wednesday. Police confiscated an M-16 rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and three revolvers from him.

Muktar turned himself in after police ransacked his house in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Monday. A number of suspicious items had been discovered in the raid, including a backpack, map and shirt with the inscription “Mujahidin Atjeh Center”.

Muktar was accompanied by Darul Mujahidin pesantren caretaker Tengku Muslim At Thahiri when surrendered.

Muslim’s wife, Intan, protested when police also detained her husband, claiming her husband had never been involved in the armed group.

Intan said her husband had helped police by handing over Muktar, Muslim’s former student at the pesantren.

Aceh Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Yusuf Al Qardawi affirmed that Muslim had never been involved in the terrorist group, but did not deny that Muktar had links to the Aceh terrorist group after Muktar confessed the weapons found in his house were entrusted to him by Maulana, a suspect who escaped during a raid in Lamkabeu, Aceh Besar.

“Maulana entrusted the firearms to Muktar because he did not know where else to hide them,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf said the terror activities in Aceh were lead by the radical Mujahidin group in Asia, which planned to set up its training ground in Aceh as a center for Asia.

He said the group had chosen Aceh believing that, because of its Islamic sharia law, it would be easier to influence.  

Some of the group’s members now being hunted by police are believed to have been recruited by Aceh FPI as jihad volunteers to be sent to Palestine in early 2009.

“But we failed to send them because of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel,” Yusuf said.
Three of the volunteers who had graduated from the training camp and joined the armed group in Aceh were identified as Taufik, Abu Rimba and Abu Rencong — all Aceh residents currently on the police’s most-wanted list for their alleged involvement in the Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist network.

Meanwhile, observers have suggested the recent crackdown on terrorism may be part of a government efforts to distract the public attention from the high-profile Bank Century investigations.

“I believe the police knew the terrorists’ whereabouts a long time ago. Why have they only decided to exploit this issue in public now?” University of Indonesia lecturer Boni Hargens said at the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) on Wednesday.

“The crackdown on terrorists  must not be used to cover up political sins.” House of Representatives defense commission member Hidayat Nur Wahid from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) told the police to crush terror cells immediately to prevent speculation on political interests behind police operations.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.