Five suspected terrorists with alleged ties to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah arrested in Riau

The National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested five suspected terrorists with alleged ties to Islamic State-linked terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) in Kampar regency, Riau, on Tuesday.

The suspects, identified only as SU, TJ, SY, LR and TW, are natives of Kampar who used to work as farmers and food vendors, the police said.

“They were arrested following the development of a case in connection with a terrorist suspect, NW, who was arrested on Aug. 1 at his rented house in Parawang, Siak regency,” Kampar Police spokesman First Insp. Deni Yusra said on Thursday.

NW had been on the police’s most-wanted list for a long time, he said, and the five suspects arrested on Tuesday were alleged to have assisted NW while he was on the run.

Authorities suspected that NW and the five were members of JAD, a militant group believed to have been behind a number of past terror attacks in the country.

According to the police, NW was allegedly involved in assembling explosives and planning an amaliyah — a term commonly used by extremist groups to launch an attack or suicide bombing — in some churches in Pekanbaru.

Citing NW’s confession, Deni said NW had planned to execute the attack by planting a bomb inside a food cart carrying cilok (skewered tapioca balls) that he sold every day.

“NW planned the attack with his partners, namely AZ, ZZ, AM and KH, who had been arrested earlier on June 21,” Deni said.

NW was also believed to have planned a suicide bombing at Kampar Police headquarters, he claimed, but Densus 88 managed to arrest them first and foiled the plan.

Deni alleged that the group planned the attacks because they believed that the democratic system in Indonesia was “infidel”. The arrested people had also reportedly been involved in the destruction of banners belonging to one of the country’s political parties during the 2019 presidential election in Kampar, he added.

Source: The Jakarta Post