Densus 88 Dismantles The Jamaah Islamiyah Terrorist Group Training Center

Head of Public Relations Division of the National Police, Inspector General Argo Yuwono (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Densus 88 Anti-terror found a training ground for the terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI). The place is used to train young terrorists to be proficient in using weapons, assembling bombs, and ambushes.

"They are trained in military style with the aim of forming troops according to the program established by the leader of this network (JI)," said Head of Public Relations of the Police, Inspector General Argo Yuwono in his statement, Sunday, December 27.

The training venue, said Argo, is in the village of Gintungan, Bandungan, Semarang, Central Java. In addition, this training venue is shaped like an ordinary villa but is indeed quiet from community activities.

This training venue is thought to have been used for a long time. From the search results, 7 batches have been trained with a total of 96 members.

In fact, after being trained they were sent to Syria. These young terrorists have been sent since 2013-2018 with funds that have been prepared by the network.

“After training here, this young generation is then sent to Syria to study military training and assembling firearms and bombs. They are preparing this young generation with the aim of becoming the future leader of this network (JI), "continued Argo Yuwono.

In training the young terrorists, the figure who becomes a teacher is none other than Joko Priyono alias Karso. He was appointed directly by the amir or the leader of the JI Para Wijayanto group.

In the world of terrorism, Karso is quite a skilled terrorist. He was arrested in 2019 and has been a convict with a sentence of more than 3 years in prison.

Meanwhile, for the recruitment pattern of young terrorists, continued Argo, this group is looking for intelligent children from several Islamic boarding schools. They are looking for students who are ranked 1 to 10 in their boarding schools.

"Each batch of 10-15 people from Java and from outside Java. A total of 95 people have been trained and trained," said Argo.