Jakarta – There is increasing evidence women are being used by terrorist groups here to smuggle and receive explosives and weapons, the National Police say.

Five women in two separate cases have been arrested and charged recently with smuggling bomb detonators and explosive materials from Malaysia into Indonesia.

National Police spokesmen Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said the women could be playing important roles as couriers and recipients of smuggled materials.

Police detained Salmah, 36, on Feb. 14 in Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi, in connection with the smuggling of 3,000 detonators and 1,736 meters of fuse from Tawau, Malaysia, into Nunukan, East Kalimantan.

Salmah's detention followed the arrest of a man, Raimi, also known as Remi bin Salim, who was found in possession of the detonators.

Raimi told police his job was to deliver the explosives to Salmah. Police found 19 sacks of ammonium nitrate, 597 detonators and eight kilograms of potassium in Salmah's house.

"Salmah was one of the women we were hunting for in connection with the smuggling of the explosive materials five months ago," Anton said Friday. "We are still investigating Salmah's connection with terrorist activities," he added.

In October last year, police in East Kalimantan also arrested four women for attempting to smuggling chemical substances that could be used to make explosives from Malaysia. Two of them, identified only by their initials as "AS" and "WR", were caught on Oct. 13 at the port of Nunukan. The pair had ammonium nitrate and other chemicals that could be used to make bombs.

Three days later, the police arrested two other women – FT and HD – in Nunukan and Pare-Pare respectively, confiscating 212 sacks of ammonium nitrate, 900 detonators and 1,000 meters of fuses. The police have charged the five women with involvement in terrorist activities.

"Our investigations into these two cases show that terrorist groups are likely to be using women to assist them," Anton said. However, he said police were unable to directly connect the women to any bomb attacks in Indonesia.

Fuses and detonators can be easily bought in black markets across the country. All the convicted terrorists and detained suspects involved in the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings were men.