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Solo terror suspects come from new group: Police
National Police chief, Gen
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National Police chief, Gen. Timur Pradopo (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo confirmed on Saturday that the three terror suspects arrested by the police’s counterterrorism squad, Densus 88, on Friday night in Surakarta, Central Java, had come from a new group.
The conclusion, according to Timur, was based on the ages of the three suspects, who were considered to be relatively young. The fact that they were ambushed at a location only two kilometers from cleric Abu Bakar Ba’ashir’s Ngruki Islamic boarding school was just a coincidence, he said.
“Possible links with old [terrorist] groups are still under investigation,” Timur said at Surakarta Police headquarters.
The police took down three suspects at two different locations and times. The suspect identified only as B, 24, was arrested in Bulurejo, Karanganyar, at 7:10 p.m. Suspects F and M, both 19 years old, were intercepted on Jl. Veteran, Tipes, Serengan, Surakarta, at 9:15 p.m. on Friday.
Densus 88 engaged in a dramatic shootout as F and M tried to fight back. Both were killed during the incident, and as was Densus 88 member First Brig. Suherman.
The police seized a pistol, two magazines, 43 bullets, a cell phone and documents from the suspects.
Timur said that the police had also found indications that the three terrorist suspects were involved in the smuggling of firearms from the Philippines.
The police also found that the gun seized from the suspects was identical to the one used in the recent attacks on police posts in Surakarta.
“The three have been identified as the perpetrators of the police post attacks in Gemblegan, Gladak and Singosaren,” Timur said.
Previously, Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Didiek Soetomo Triwidodo confirmed that the three attacks on police posts in Surakarta were related to one another. The motives, he said, had something to do with police efforts in upholding the law in the region.
“They wanted to take revenge,” he said without elaborating.
Meanwhile, the burial of First Brig. Suherman, 24, has been scheduled for Sunday at his hometown in Pinrang regency, South Sulawesi. His body was flown from Jakarta to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, the provincial capital, on Saturday afternoon, before being transported to Pinrang.
South Sulawesi Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Chevy Ahmad Sopari said Suherman’s body would be buried at Pinrang Heroes Cemetery.
Suherman was a member of the police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Jakarta, where he had been assigned since graduating from Batukosek Brimob School in 2010. Suherman was the first son of Baharuddin and Tahirah.
