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4 terror suspects arrested in Surabaya affiliated with IS: Police
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On alert – National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti (left) talks with Indonesian Military commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo on the sidelines of a limited Cabinet meeting on security and human rights, led by President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Jan. 5. (thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)
N
ational Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti confirmed on Tuesday that four suspected terrorists arrested in Surabaya, East Java, were connected with the Islamic State (IS) radical movement.
Of the four, he said IS had connections with two of the terrorist suspects, Abu Jandal and Bahrun Naim, who the latter was reportedly the mastermind of the terror attacks near Sarinah shopping mall on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, in January.
“There is a direct link with Bahrun Naim, and one of them is the staff member of Abu Jandal’s foundation,” said Badrodin as quoted by tempo.co at the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
He said the police were still tracing fund sources for the manufacture of homemade bombs confiscated by the National Police’s counterterrorism squad, Densus 88, from a house on Jl. Lebak Timur in Tambak Sari, Surabaya, last Wednesday.
Badrodin did not deny that the flow of funds were coming from other terrorist groups, such as the East Indonesia Mujahiddin (MIT) led by the nation’s most-wanted man Santoso.
“One of the four terror suspects is the owner of the house where bomb assembling took place,” said Badrodin. “The suspect, identified with initials PHP, had already been convicted twice.”
Badrodin said the police were mapping out areas in the country prone to terrorism. He explained the police’s investigation, which led to the raid and arrest of the four suspected terrorists in Surabaya, was conducted one month beforehand.
“Once we see activity that arouses suspicion, we will investigate it,” Badrodin asserted.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan earlier said PHP and three other suspected terrorists, identified with their initials BRN, FN and SN, were “Porong graduates”. Luhut was referring to the Porong Penitentiary, which is known to be a hub for spreading radicalism among its inmates.
The four terrorist suspects were reportedly planning bomb attacks next Wednesday in several areas across Surabaya. (ebf)
