Father and son arrested in Bali terror plot had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State

A father and son with links to Islamic State have been arrested in Bali, accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the holiday island.

The two men are alleged to have had arrows, bayonets, and an airsoft gun to use in the foiled attack and their arrests come as Australians and Indonesians on Saturday commemorated the 17th anniversary of the 2002 nightclub bombings which killed 200 innocent people, 88 of them Australians.

Bali police revealed details of the latest plot last night which follows a stabbing attack on Indonesia’s chief security minister, Wrianto, the Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, who was stabbed in the stomach on Thursday in Banten province, West Java.

Police have said his attackers, a husband and wife, were members of the outlawed terror group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has links to IS.

They say the father and son arrested in Bali are closely linked to the Wiranto attacker and both had pledged allegiance or baiat to the IS leader, Abu Bakar al Baghdadi.

It is believed their targets may have included villas in Ubud.

Police allege they were members of an extremist WhatsApp group called “Menanti Al Mahdi” and that the father had shared PDFs within the group, including a tutorial on bomb-making, a do-it-yourself submachine gun, 9mm pistol, a guide to making Derringer scrap metal guns and Arab archery techniques. The Wiranto attacker was also a member of the same WhatsApp group.

The father and son, identified as Achmad Taufikkurrahman and his son Zaid Ali Ibrahim, were arrested at 2.35am on Thursday morning in Jembrana, in Bali’s west.

It is understood they were attempting to flee Bali and head back to Malang in East Java. The father was driving when their car was blocked by police. Both he and his son were handcuffed immediately.

Also inside the car were the wife, Etty Umiyati, and two friends of the family.

Bali police spokesperson, Hengky Widjaja, said the men had been arrested by a team from Indonesia’s anti-terror police, Densus 88, and the Bali police counter transnational and organised crime unit.

Source: 7News