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Police release Batam resident suspected of terror links
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Suspected – Riau Islands Police personnel put yellow tape around a house belonging to Gigih Rahmat Dewa, 31, one of six Batam residents arrested on Friday for their alleged involvement in a terror network led by Bahrun Naim. (thejakartapost.com/Fadli)
T
he Riau Islands Police released 19-year-old Batam resident Muhammad Tegar Sucianto on Saturday after concluding that he was not involved in a terror network led by Bahrun Naim, an Islamic State (IS) movement member from Surakarta, Central Java.
Tegar was one of six Batam residents arrested last week by the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad for their alleged involvement in Bahrun’s terror network. The five other suspects were Gigih Rahmat Dewa, Eka Syahputra, Trio Syafrido, Tarmidzi and Hadi Gusti Yanda.
Tegar was released after more than 10 hours of interrogation.
His mother, Desi Fitrianti, 43, said two police officers brought home her eldest son on Saturday morning. “They said Muhammad Tegar was healthy, nothing happened to him,” she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Desi said Densus 88 personnel arrested her son as he was about to go to work. Tegar rode along with Hadi, 20, another suspect arrested by the counterterrorism squad, on a motorbike, she added.
“My son was questioned at the police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters. They asked him about the activities of the five [other] people. Of course, my son didn’t know about it. He is an ordinary person. I was not informed when he was arrested,” said Desi.
Batam Mayor Muhammad Rudi and the head of the Batam, Rempang and Galang Police, Sr. Comr. Helmi Santikan, said they would assemble heads of neighborhood units (RT) and community units (RW) to remind them to strictly monitor the activities of residents in their neighborhoods.
“On Monday, we will gather RT/RW officials from areas across Batam to ensure that their residents are not involved with the IS terrorist network,” said Rudi. (ebf)
