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Plot to murder Ahok detected on Telegram: Official claims
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Then-Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama waves upon arriving at the Cipinang detention center in East Jakarta on May 9. (Antara/Ubaidillah)
T
he discovery of a plot to assassinate former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Thajaja Purnama in a monitored conversation was one of the government's reasons for blocking web access to the chat application Telegram, an official has said.
The Communications and Information Ministry’s director general of Informatics, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said the conversation on Telegram revealed that the murder was planned to be carried by bombing a car and religious site on Dec. 23, 2015.
"We got the data from [the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad]. Densus knows the details of the plan," Semuel said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.
The ministry also claimed that an attack against police officers at the Falatehan mosque in South Jakarta on June 30 had been planned through Telegram.
"Since 2015, [terrorists] have used Telegram to communicate. Only two of all the revealed cases were not planned through Telegram," Semuel said.
The ministry has blocked 11 of Telegram's domain name servers (DNS) on July 14, while the mobile application can still be accessed. (Cal)
