REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan here on Monday lauded the personnel of the police's anti-terror squad Densus 88 for successfully capturing six terror suspects in Malang, East Java, on February 19.
The arrest has helped the police to obtain more evidence about the perpetrators of the suicide bombing and shooting attack in Jakarta on January 14, 2016, he informed journalists.
Pandjaitan, however, refused to explain the chronology of the arrest, and the suspects' connection to those involved in the January 14 assault.
The minister just affirmed that the arrest has paved the way for uncovering terrorist networks in Indonesia.
"Thus, we have come to know more about the existence of terrorist networks in the country," he remarked.
The arrest was made by the Densus 88 personnel who intercepted the terror suspects as they were traveling in a van on Ngijo Karangploso Road, Malang District, East Java Province, on Friday evening (February 19).
Following the arrest, the police raided several houses in Griya Permata Alam housing complex in Ngijo Village, Karangploso Sub-district, Malang District, which were believed to be the hideouts of the suspected terrorists. Achmad Ridho Wijaya, Rudi Hadianto, Romli, and Badrodin were among the suspects who were captured by the Densus 88 members.
Terrorism remains an endless challenge for Indonesia since a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Philippines embassy and the Christmas Eve bombings that rocked Jakarta in 2000. The most recent incident occurred in the Indonesian capital city on January 14, 2016.
According to National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti, 17 people were allegedly involved in the January 14 assault, which led to the deaths of eight people, including three innocent civilians, and caused injuries to more than 20 others.
Haiti said the perpetrators had actually planned to launch their attack on Christmas Eve last year, but the police had successfully managed to foil the attempt.
The January 14 attackers did not have sufficient budget for orchestrating a deadly assault on a police post and Starbucks coffee shop near Central Jakarta's Sarinah shopping mall and had merely spent Rp900 thousand for making the explosives, Haiti revealed.
Despite the police's success in handling the Jakarta suicide bombing and shooting attack, terror threats loom large over the country as several terrorist groups still have contacts with Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtono.
Bahrun Naim, believed to be the mastermind behind the January 14 assault, is ready to transfer funds to terrorist groups that could launch attacks, said General Haiti at a recent joint hearing of the government with the House of Representatives' commissions overseeing defense and security issues, and legal affairs in Jakarta.
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