Police detain MMI members for paramilitary training<\/p>\n
Blontank Poer and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Surakarta\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police questioned dozens of members of the Indonesian Mujahiddin
\nCouncil (MMI) for allegedly taking part in paramilitary training
\nin the Tawangmangu jungle of Karanganyar, Central Java.<\/p>\n
The group of 35 people was disbanded by locals at dawn on
\nMonday. The people were then detained by the police who had been
\nobserving the site since Sunday.<\/p>\n
\"We are questioning them, and the investigation is ongoing,\"
\nNational Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday. The
\npolice refused to go into details of the activities of the men,
\nnor the charges that might be brought against them.<\/p>\n
Surakarta Police detective chief Adj. Comr. Yuda Gustawan
\nconfirmed that they had been investigating the activities of the
\nmen.<\/p>\n
Locals said the group of young Muslim men had been camping in
\nthe jungle since last Thursday and were involved in military
\ntraining, without using real rifles.<\/p>\n
A resident, Supono, said that he saw the group engaging in
\nmilitary-like practices such as marching and shooting, though
\nwith sticks.<\/p>\n
Worried about the activities of the group, Tawangmangu
\nsubdistrict chief Drajad Mahendratama, along with dozens of
\nothers, visited the location and demanded that the men leave the
\nsite at once.<\/p>\n
Drajad even provided three minivans to evacuate the men, while
\ndozens of policemen stood by before taking them to the local
\npolice station for questioning.<\/p>\n
Police said that the group was led by Djarot Supriyanto alias
\nAbu Haidar, a noted activist of MMI.<\/p>\n
The organization is led by cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the
\nalleged spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which is
\nlisted by the United Nations as part of an international
\nterrorist network with links to al-Qaeda. The JI, which is blamed
\nfor the Bali blast in October 2002 and the bombing of JW Marriot
\nHotel in Jakarta in August 2003.<\/p>\n
\"We are not involved in military training, we were just
\ncamping. This is simply a misunderstanding,\" Haidar said during
\nthe evacuation.<\/p>\n
He further said that the activities were not at all related to
\nMMI, as participants were activists of various Muslim-based
\norganizations.<\/p>\n
According to police, the 35 men came from cities across the
\ncountry, such as Bandung and Purwakarta in West Java, East Lombok
\nin West Nusa Tenggara, and Karanganyar, Sukoharjo, Kendal, and
\nPemalang in Central Java and Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Most of the men were aged between 20 years and 30 years, and a
\nretired military officer, Lasmana Ibrahim, served as their
\ntrainer. Police say Lasmana is a navy officer from Bandung who
\nretired as a major.<\/p>\n
In 2002, the state intelligence agency (BIN) also claimed the
\npresence of a military training site for the al-Qaeda terrorist
\nnetwork in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on the grounds of a Muslim
\nboarding school there, a charge which has also been denied by
\nthose affiliated with the school.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-detain-mmi-members-for-paramilitary-training-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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