Police arrest three more terror suspects in Central Java
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Central Java
The police arrested three more Muslim terror suspects who allegedly were linked to terrorists or terror attacks in the country, bringing the figure to 18.
They also revealed that a document in Arabic, which was recently seized from other terrorist suspects in Semarang, capital of Central Java, contained misleading teachings that could jeopardize the younger generation.
National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said here on Friday that the three were identified as Sumarno, Wagino and Fadli, were captured in their own houses in the Central Java town of Karanganyar, early in the morning on Friday.
"Wagino and Sumarno with the bullets and bomb-making materials, and were taken by an antiterror squad from their own house in Jenggrik Gayamdumpo village while Fadli was nabbed because he supplied logistics to terror suspects when they were hiding in Surakarta and Klaten (both in Java)," he said.
He added that the police also seized thousands of bullets and two boxes of TNT and a kilogram of sulfur, a chemical which can be used for making explosives.
With the help of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the police last week hauled in 15 terror suspects, all reported to practicing the Islamic faith, for a similar allegation and they are still being interrogated, but it has drawn strong protests from Muslim organizations.
Nine were arrested in Jakarta namely Ahmad Sofyan alias Tamim, Zaid, Rofi alias Solihin, Teten, Rachmat, Sukimin alias Babe, Zubair alias Lutfi, Farhan alias Syamsul Bahri and Muhaimin Yahya alias Ziad. Two others were arrested in Lampung, namely Ari Wibowo alias Mustofa dan Awaluddin alias Abu Yasar. The other two were arrested in Solo, namely Ikhsan and Suradi alias Abu Usman.
The 15 suspects have been accused of involvement in a string of bombings between 2000 and 2003 across the country or having links with terrorist suspects who are on trial for their alleged involvement in the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali blasts and the Aug. 5 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta.
Chief of Central Java Provincial Police Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said in Semarang that the police were still examining other chemicals confiscated from the detainees.
He also disclosed that the police had seized several books in Arabic with titles such as Al Qidah, Al Sunnah, Al Jihad and Toward the Glory of Islam.
According to Didi, the materials belonged to Surono who was arrested on Tuesday in his home town in Karanganyar.
"From the preliminary investigation, Surono admitted the bullets and bomb-making materials were handed to him by his colleague named Eko a year ago to keep in his house," he said.
Antara news agency reported that the police were still now hunting down two other terror suspects identified as Junaedi and Parawijayanto, both residents of Banyumanik and Kudus respectively.
Didi said that the document confiscated from the suspects in Semarang recently were dangerous because they contained misleading Muslim teachings.
Besides containing teachings on how to establish a Muslim military force and to make explosives, the books also encouraged Muslims to embark upon jihad (holy war) for what was called Islamic glory, he said.
He explained that the document was probably brought here from Afghanistan and the book was published by Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Amsari, two senior leaders of the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
Didi called on relevant authorities to take stern measures to prevent the spread of such misleading documents because it could jeopardize the younger generation.
He said he had is suspicions that the document had been read and learned by all the terrorist suspects allegedly involved in the series of bomb attacks.
He insisted that the detainees were not Muslims or mosque activists, but "terror activists" and they were with those who are on trial and still at large.