Indonesia’s anti-terror squad Special Detachment 88 police officers escort suspected militants as they are transferred to Jakarta following their arrest, at the local police headquarters in Malang
Indonesia’s anti-terror squad arrested four more people suspected of being connected to deadly attacks in the capital in January, police said yesterday.
National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Anton Charliyan said the four knew about the plot one month before the Jan. 14 bombings that killed eight people, including four attackers.
Two of the suspects were arrested in the Central Java town of Kroya on Monday, while two others were apprehended in Patok Picis village in the hilly city of Malang in East Java.
A total of 43 suspects have now been arrested in connection with the attack.
Among those arrested earlier was Nazarudin Mukhtar — also known as Abu Ghar, who is believed to have planned the Jakarta attack with Muhammad Ali and Afif Sunakin, who were both fatally shot by police while trying to detonate a bomb in front of a Starbucks cafe.
Mukhtar had recently completed a prison sentence for his role in a deadly 2004 attack on a police station in Maluku province and allegedly joined a new militant cell after visiting imprisoned clerics Abu Bakar Bashir and Aman Abdurrahman.
Charliyan said the last four suspects have links to Abdurrahman.
In response to the attacks, Indonesia’s government submitted a new anti-terrorism law to parliament last month, and lawmakers are expected to pass it within two months.
The draft bill, obtained by The Associated Press, says an individual suspected of plotting to carry out an act of terrorism could be detained for up to six months without charges. If approved, it would be the first measure that strict to be enacted since the downfall of dictator Suharto in 1998. AP
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