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Police ramp up hunt for Abdullah
The National Police are intensifying their hunt for terror suspect Abdullah Sonata, an explosives expert who they say has returned to Indonesia
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he National Police are intensifying their hunt for terror suspect Abdullah Sonata, an explosives expert who they say has returned to Indonesia.
He reportedly has been recently shuffling between Indonesia and the Philippines’ restive island of Mindanao.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Saturday that Abdullah was now believed to be in Indonesia.
“We are still coordinating with our neighboring countries, particularly the Philippines,” Edward told journalists.
He said Abdullah was a teacher of military tactics and explosives and had a natural gift for recruiting new followers.
National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a press conference Friday that Abdullah was now the primary target of the police’s antiterrorist force — Detachment 88.
The taskforce’s secondary target, he said, was Umar Patek, who was believed to have assisted the deceased terrorist Dulmatin in several bomb attacks.
Dulmatin was shot to death by the antiterrorist squad in an Internet café in Pamulang, South Jakarta, in March.
“In terms of rank, Abdullah and Dulmatin are equal. They are both top leaders,” Bambang said.
Bambang said that evidence gained from recent raids on terrorist hideouts in East Jakarta and West Java and subsequent interrogations of suspects had revealed a plan to attack state officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, during a scheduled Independence Day ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta on Aug. 17.
Bambang said the plan had sought for the President and other dignitaries to be attacked from long range.
“Suhardi, alias Usman, and Rusiken Nur had been assigned to collect 21 assault rifles and [rocket] launchers for that purpose,” he said referring to one of the suspects.
“They hoped that after killing the key officials, they [the terrorists] would be able to take over the government there and then.”
Abdullah is thought to have committed his first act of terrorism in 1992. He is believed to be a member of Kompak, an Islamic militant group involved in a series of sectarian attacks in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso and in Maluku, the capital of Ambon.
Abdullah underwent military training in the Philippines and became a combatant alongside Muslim rebels in Moro, southern Philippines.
The police shot dead terrorist suspects Maulana in Cawang, East Jakarta, on Wednesday, and Jaja aka Pura Sudarma in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, in March.
The latest raid on a terrorist hideout occurred in Baki Pandeyan village, Sukoharjo, Central Java, on Thursday. Three suspects were arrested and flown to Jakarta. The police also seized two firearms and hundreds of bullets in the raid.
The police also said that the bodies of five suspected terrorists killed Wednesday in Jakarta and Cikampek, West Java, were still at the Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.
The police identified four of the five dead as Maulana, Saptono, Ujang Michrodin and Dani Ramdani.
