REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEMARANG -- National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said that the six alleged terrorists arrested in Batam, Riau Islands, planned to carry out an attack in Singapore.
"I hereby confirm that the group had planned to execute terrorist acts in Singapore and Batam," the Police Chief said in Semarang on Friday.
He revealed that the group was directly connected with Bahrun Naim group in Syria and received direct orders from Syria to strike Singapore and Batam.
Karnavian also disclosed that the group's leader with initials GRD was also linked to the suicide bomber Nur Rohman who had attacked Surakarta Police Headquarters.
Both GRD and Nur Rohman had illegally brought two Chinese nationals into the country from Malaysia.
"The two who originally came from Uighur, China, were arrested, and one of them was deported back to his country of origin," he noted.
The group in Batam is linked to the Uighur international terrorist syndicate spread across Indonesia, China and Thailand.
"We have thwarted their plan to strike Singapore and Batam," Karnavian affirmed.
Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88) had previously raided a number of spots in Batam city, leading to the arrest of six alleged terrorists.
Along with their leader GRD, five other suspects identified as TS, ES, Tmz, HGY and MTS were taken into custody.
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