A Total Of 23 Jamaah Islamiyah Terrorist Suspects Arrived In Jakarta From Lampung

Head of the Public Information Division of the National Police Public Relations Division Kombes Pol Ahmad Ramadhan while picking up 23 suspected terrorists from Lampung. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - As many as 23 terrorist suspects from the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network have arrived in the capital city of Jakarta via Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Wednesday.

Reported by Antara, Wednesday, December 16, they were arrested by the Indonesian Police's Densus 88 Anti-terror Team in Lampung, among them the suspected terrorist Zulkarnaen alias Arif Sunarso who was the Commander of Askari, a fugitive in the Bali Bombing 1 case that occurred in 2001.

Head of the Public Information Division of the National Police's Public Relations Division, Kombes Ahmad Ramadhan, said the Densus 88 team had previously arrested 23 suspected terrorists from the Jamaah Islamiyah network in Lampung some time ago.

According to him, there were two suspects who were wanted by the National Police.

"Just now we saw 23 terrorist suspects from JI (Jamaah Islamiyah) who were brought from Lampung to Jakarta and arrived by plane," said Kombes Ramadhan at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

According to him, the terrorist suspect on the wanted list (DPO) is Zulkarnaen, who has been a fugitive for 18 years and the suspect Taufik Bulaga alias Upik Lawanga. "We conveyed 23 suspects to be taken to terrorist custody," he said.

Upi Lawanga is a member of Jamaah Islamiyah who has expertise in making weapons and making bombs. He was involved in terror activities such as the Tentena Bomb, the Poso Gor Bomb, the Central Market Bombing and a series of other terrorist acts from 2004 to 2006.

Meanwhile, Zulkarnaen is the DPO Polri in the Bali 1 bomb terror case that occurred in 2001. He also has the ability to assemble high explosive bombs, assemble firearms and military capabilities.

In addition, Zulkarnaen was the leader of Askari Markaziah Jamaah Islamiyah and the trainer of the Military Academy in Afghanistan for 7 years and was the architect of the riots in Ambon, Ternate, Poso in 1998 - 2000.

"Meanwhile, 21 other suspects have a role and have the potential to contribute to planning for future terror crimes," he said.