TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Bogor terrorism suspect 30th arrested in May alone
The National Police have arrested 30 terrorism suspects just in the month of May, and almost 70 since the start of the year.
Change Size
Police officers arrange evidence confiscated from the house of a 51-year-old man in Cibinong, Bogor, on Friday. The man was arrested earlier that day on terrorism charges. (Courtesy of Bogor Police/-)
The National Police's antiterrorism squad, Densus 88, raided a suspect’s house in Cibinong district of Bogor, West Java, on Friday afternoon, arresting a 51-year-old man identified as E alias AR.
Bogor Police chief Andi Moch. Dicky said the police had found explosive materials like nitroglycerine and triacetone triperoxide and a ready homemade explosive device. They also confiscated cooking pots and nails from the house as well as books on jihad and bomb-making.
Earlier, National Police spokesperson M. Iqbal said 29 terrorism suspects had been arrested in May alone. They are believed to have been working under Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an outlawed group linked to the Islamic State group.
"The JAD [members] hid a wanted person in Lampung and planned a terror attack on a crowd on May 22 using a bomb," Iqbal said as quoted by kompas.com.
Earlier, police said the terrorist network wanted to attack the General Elections Commission (KPU) building in Jakarta on May 22, the day when the KPU is slated to announce the results of the recent elections.
Security analyst Sidney Jones from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said the risk of a terrorist attack on May 22 was now low.
"I think the likelihood of a terror attack on May 22 is low, since the police seem to have foiled the planned attack from the Bekasi-Lampung cell. Unfortunately, there is always a small chance that another cell has been plotting something similar, so we can't be complacent," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Iqbal said police had arrested 68 terrorism suspects so far this year, with most arrested in May. (evi)
