Farouk Arnaz & Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – The police's anti-terror unit Detachment 88 arrested two members of the Islamic State-affiliated militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, or JAD, including the leader of its Lamongan branch, at two separate locations in East Java on Thursday.
"H.S. was arrested in Sampang [on Madura Island] and B.L. was arrested in Lamongan [in East Java]. They were indirectly involved in the Thamrin bombing in Jakarta [in 2016]," National Police spokesman Comr. Asep Adi Saputra said on Friday.
H.S. are the initials of Hari Setiawan a.k.a. Hanafi a.k.a. Abu Zulfar, a resident of Bira Tengah in Sampang, East Java.
Hari joined a JAD military training in Sengkaling near Malang in East Java in 2015. The trainers at the camp were Abu Gar and M. Ali, the perpetrators of the Thamrin bombing, which brought downtown Jakarta to a standstill on Jan. 14, 2016.
Hari also joined a paramilitary training to use lethal weapons at the Selorejo dam in Malang in 2016. Police seized several sharp weapons from Hari in Thursday's raid.
B.L. a.k.a. Beni Luqman Hakim a.k.a. Abu Wafa, a resident of Brondong in Lamongan, East Java, was rounded up during a separate raid on Thursday evening, the police spokesman said.
Beni is the amir or leader of JAD Lamongan. According to police, he attended a meeting in Bendo in Sidoarjo, East Java, prior to the Surabaya church bombings in May last year.
Police this week have also arrested a man who attacked a police officer in Wonokromo, a suburb of Surabaya, the East Java capital.
The attack had wounded two police officers. National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said the attacker was linked to JAD and knew members of the group who were responsible for the Surabaya bombings.
In October 2016, Beni attended a JAD training in Lamongan with Zaenal Anshori – a former leader of JAD who is now serving a seven-year jail term – and other members of the group at the Gowa musholla, a prayer hall in town.
Beni also attended another JAD training camp at Mount Panderman in Batu, near Malang in East Java.