Irwanto, alias Abu Muhammad, is suspected of having planned to carry out terrorist attacks during New Year’s Eve celebrations in several areas across the city.

Central Police chief Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said on Monday that the suspect was assembling bombs that he planned to detonate at churches and places suspected to be the bases of Shia communities in Palu when he was apprehended.

Irwanto, who is now undergoing intensive questioning at the Central Sulawesi Police headquarters, had reportedly rehearsed his attack on a church on Jl. Masjid Raya, Palu. In the tests, he used only several fresh care bottles with wicks installed.

“He tested it twice,” said Rudy, who is also commander of the Operation Tinombala taskforce assigned to pursue the remnants of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terror group previously led by Santoso, aka Abu Wardah.

(Read also: Operation Tinombala extended by three months as terror group still at large)

Rudy said security personnel arrested Irwanto on Jl. Bali, East Palu, on Saturday, less than 24 hours before he would have carried out his attack on New Year’s Eve.

Rudy said Irwanto was also planning to create a new terrorist group to carry out bomb attacks. He planned to recruit young Islamic activists from Palu and sympathizers of the Santoso terror group in Poso.

Rudy said the new group would be assigned to rob banks, with the money being used to buy weapons and finance their terror acts.

“A new group is needed because, according to the suspect, the MIT in Gunung Biru, Poso, and a terror cell led by Islamic State-linked terrorist Bahrun Naim have been getting weaker,” he said. (ebf)