More than 500 donation boxes were confiscated from the homes of suspected terrorists in Deli Serdang regency and Tanjung Balai municipality from March 19 to 26. The police also nabbed 18 alleged terrorists in a series of operations in the two regions and several other locations in Medan, Binjai, Langkat and Padang Sidempuan, according to North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Hadi Wahyudi.

“These charity boxes were put in public places such as convenient stores, supermarkets, [traditional] markets and restaurants. The money collected was allegedly used to fund terror activities,” Hadi told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The police have not identified which terror groups they belong to, nor have revealed how much money was collected or what kind of activities the money was for.

Read also: Police find thousands of alms boxes allegedly used by Jamaah Islamiyah to raise money

Last December, the police found more than 20,000 alms boxes believed to have been used to raise money for the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group in 12 regions, including in North Sumatra.

Former terrorist convict Khairul Ghazali, who upon release was often quoted by journalists, said Indonesian terrorists often used donation boxes to raise funds, including groups in North Sumatra.

“This method, internally known as tabung jihad [money box for jihad], has been commonly used since the 1980s by terrorist organizations. The money collected through tabung jihad is used to fund terror attacks,” he said.

This method, he added, slowly grew popular and was believed to be more effective than other sources of funds, including bank robberies, particularly because it could generate large amounts of money with minimum risks.

Khairul himself was sentenced to five years in jail for harboring terrorists involved in a deadly 2010 CIMB Niaga bank heist in the provincial capital Medan. The stolen money was reportedly intended to fund terror activities and buy weapons.

Khairul suspected that the recently captured terrorists had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS). He said extremist groups in North Sumatra were usually either related to JI — with some members of the Medan chapter reportedly linked to a string of bank robberies between 2008 and 2010 — or the outlawed, homegrown pro-IS Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terror movement.

Responding to the recent arrests of suspected terrorists, North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi said the province was a comfortable breeding ground for terrorists because the region was considered a safe place. He warned people to remain cautious, saying that terror attacks could happen anywhere; even at places that are considered safe, such as government and security offices.

A number of terror attacks in North Sumatra kept the police on high alert throughout 2019. In March of that year, Solimah, the wife of a convicted terrorist Abu Hamzah, detonated a bomb after a 16-hour standoff with the police in Sibolga, killing herself and her 3-year-old child, and damaging dozens of houses in the area. Abu Hamzah is suspected of being affiliated with JAD, which often worked in cells comprising both lone wolves and small groups.

In November 2019, a 24-year-old terrorist carried out a suicide attack on the Medan Police headquarters, wounding six people in the blast. An investigation into the incident found that the perpetrator, a resident of Medan, had been a lone wolf linked to JAD.

Read also: Police arrest suspects, ramp up security after Makassar bombing

The recent arrests of alleged terrorists and the confiscation of charity boxes in North Sumatra came only days before a suicide bombing in a church in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Sunday. The bomb exploded outside the church just after congregants finished service for Palm Sunday, wounding 20 people and killing the two assailants — JAD members who had recently married.

The police are now tightening security at churches across the nation and hunting down terror suspects to prevent attacks during Holy Week celebrations.

On Monday, Densus 88 arrested about a dozen individuals allegedly related to JAD in Makassar, West Nusa Tenggara, Jakarta and West Java. Investigators are still working to identify a link between the arrested individuals and the bombing in Makassar. (gis)