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fficers from the National Police antiterrorism squad Detachment 88 have detained Taufik Marzuki, alias Abu Sayyaf, a suspected terrorist fugitive allegedly behind a series of recent attacks in Sumatra.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said Taufik and several other suspects had been detained by Malaysian police last month in Shah Alam, Selangor. Ketut declined to reveal additional information on the suspects.

“We are still coordinating with the Malaysian authorities for more information,” he said.

Taufik was one of the terror suspects asked to buy ammunition and rifles from Malaysia by ringleader Toni Togar, a convicted terrorist transferred from the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan to Jakarta earlier this week.

Taufik is head of the Islam Defenders Front in Aceh, and also commander of Al Qaeda in Pidie, Aceh.

Police rounded up 103 people when they raided the Aceh terror group’s military training camp earlier this year. They have been transferred and tried in Jakarta on charges of terrorism.

Ketut said Taufik participated in terror military training in Jantho, Aceh, earlier this year. According to the police, the training camp was run by Jama’ah Anshorut Tauhid, a militant group led by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, who was arrested in August.

Police also identified Taufik as a close aide of Muhammad Sofyan Tsauri, a police officer-turned-terrorist who is currently in custody for his role in allegedly providing firearms and ammunition to the terrorist group.

The police said Tsauri had ordered Taufik at least two times to collect firearms from Jakarta and bring them to Aceh to be used during military training.

A source within Detachment 88 said Taufik was brought to Jakarta on Monday and has been questioned since then.

Ketut said Taufik told the police he fled to Malaysia on June 12 under the pseudonym Sulaiman Tarmizi. While in Malaysia, Taufik worked as a construction worker at Port Klang, Kelantan, and Shah Alam.

Taufik’s arrest was first announced by then police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri Bambang, who revealed Taufik was among those who were believed to have orchestrated the CIMB Niaga bank heist that claimed the life of Mobile Brigade officer First. Brig. Immanuel Simanjuntak.

The police believed the robbery was orchestrated by Toni Togar, a convicted terrorist who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a series of church bombings in Pekan Baru and Medan nearly a
decade ago.

Ketut said Toni had managed to coordinate his colleagues from his prison cell due to prison wardens who had lent him cellular phones.

“We are still coordinating with officials from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry regarding the wardens who allegedly lent their phones to Toni,” he said.

Not only did Toni manage to orchestrate numerous attacks from his prison cell, but he also managed to recruit people and establish a new organization called the Indonesian Mujahidin Group.

— JP/Dicky Christanto