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Densus 88 anti-terror squad arrests KAI employee for alleged link to IS
The police's counterterrorism squad has arrested a national railway employee over suspicions of his ties to Islamic State and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition at his rented home, just three days before the country's Independence Day celebrations.
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Officers of the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad take action during a simulation held on Dec. 16, 2020 at Lebak Bulus MRT Station in South Jakarta. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad has arrested an employee of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) on suspicions that he is an Islamic State (IS) sympathizer.
The suspected terrorist, identified only by his initials DE, was arrested on Monday afternoon at his rented house in Bekasi, West Java.
DE had rented the house just six months ago and lived there with his pregnant wife and children, according to local neighborhood unit head Ichwanul Munlimin, as reported by several media outlets.
The police searched the suspect’s home and seized more than a dozen firearms, including pistols, rifles and airsoft guns converted into real guns, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Densus 88 spokesperson Sr. Comr. Aswin Siregar said.
"Investigators are currently recording the types of weapons and their exact numbers," Aswin said on Monday as quoted by Tempo.co.
Indonesia’s firearm regulation is extremely strict and only a few select civilians are permitted to own guns.
Aswin did not give any details on how DE was able to acquire the firearms, but National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan later said that police suspected DE had made the weapons himself.
