APSN Banner

Interrogations lead to arrests of four more Indonesia terror suspects

Source
Jakarta Globe - April 18, 2012

Farouk Arnaz – The National Police's anti-terror squad arrested four terror suspects in the West Java town of Purwakarta on Tuesday after gathering information from other suspects.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said in Jakarta on Tuesday that police had arrested three of the four men, and on Wednesday he added the fourth suspect was arrested later in the evening. The four suspects have been identified as U., A., D. and E.S.

Boy added, as quoted by detik.com, that police seized a gun, an axe, a machete, a sword, two knives and a mask. "[They] were arrested as the result of our investigation, which took place after the arrest of Kamaludin in Bima," Boy said on Tuesday.

The latest suspects were arrested on suspicion of assisting Kamaludin and for possession of several objects deemed "dangerous," Boy said. "I cannot yet divulge what the evidence is," he added.

Boy also said police could not yet ascertain whether the three men were involved in a gold-shop heist conducted by Kamaludin in Purwakarta.

Kamaludin, also known as Abdul, Hamid and Hilang Ridho Ilahi, was arrested in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. He was apprehended along with another man, identified as Yuniardi, on Friday. Kamaludin is suspected of being involved in a paramilitary camp in Aceh, the CIMB Niaga bank heist in Medan and the gold-shop robbery in Purwakarta.

"We were worried that if we didn't take action now, they would have acted," said a member of the anti-terror unit known as Densus 88 who declined to be named, referring to the arrest of the last three suspects.

Police said that Kamaludin was part of a group led by Abu Tholut. The group was behind the armed robbery of a CIMB bank in Medan in August 2010 which left one policeman dead and two security guards seriously injured.

Abu Tholut is also suspected of spearheading other violent robberies in and around Medan between April and August 2010 involving bank branch offices and money changers.

Police have said the robberies were carried out to raise funds for radical group Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, which was running a paramilitary training camp in Aceh. Abu Tholut, a prominent member of JAT, is alleged to have organized the camp, which police raided in February 2010.

JAT was founded by infamous Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in 2008, who was in exile in Malaysia for 17 years while President Suharto was in power.

Country