Depok-Solo terror group gets creative with bomb-assembly

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WEST KALIMANTAN: The Depok-Solo terror group whose members were busted in a series of raids on Saturday appear to have been more creative than other terror groups in assembling bombs, employing, among other items, plastic food containers and rice cookers, Jakarta Globe Reported.

Found at the house of Barkah Nawa Saputra, a suspect arrested in the antiterror operation, were “two rice cooker casings with two bomb switches using rigged mobile phones and 20 bottles of chemical substances, electronic devices, 13 detonator caps and dozens of switches,” National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said over the weekend.

The National Police’s counterterrorism unit, Densus 88, arrested 10 terrorists over the weekend and seized a dozen homemade bombs from the group suspected of planning suicide attacks against security forces and the government.

Eight suspects were arrested on Saturday around Solo, Central Java, and one in West Kalimantan, Boy said.

The 10th suspect, Joko Parkit, was arrested on Sunday in Solo. Parkit’s brother, Eko Joko Supriyanto, was shot dead by police in 2009 during raids to hunt down Southeast Asia’s most wanted Islamist militant, Noordin M. Top. Noordin was killed by police later the same year.

Two suspects were arrested on Saturday in Solo after authorities received information about their whereabouts from other militants in the group who had recently surrendered, Boy said. The two were interrogated and led police to six other members of the group hours later.

Boy said that two of those arrested, Badri Hartono and Rudi Kurnia Putra, both 45, worked to recruit young men and taught at least one member of the group how to make bombs.

“They were the central figures of the group who had planned several terror attacks,” Boy said.

“They recruited, invited young men to be trained in a military-style jihadi camp and bought bombmaking materials.”

The police seized seven bottle bombs, 11 assembled detonators, pipes for bomb casings, a kilogram of urea fertilizer, 3 kg of sulphur, charcoal, jihadist books and electronic devices at Badri’s home.

A third suspect, Kamidi, 43, was arrested at his house in Griyan village at 7 a.m., and a fourth named Subarkah Himawan, or Wawa, was nabbed two hours later.

On Saturday afternoon, police detonated four bombs found in Kamidi’s house. Haryanto, Kamidi’s neighbor, said the alleged terrorist was single and jobless.

“He has a big house, several young men often go there,” Haryanto told Antara.

“He shows them videos about [militant training in]Poso [Central Sulawesi]. At first, many local people went there, but then they lost interest.”

Wawa was taken to the local police station at 9:30 a.m. along with his wife and month-old baby. He reportedly worked as an electronics technician.

Wawa’s neighbor, Tri Sumaryati, said the man’s family did not get along well with the other neighbors.

“The only time they left the house was to go to the mosque,” she said.

“When I asked her name, she only replied ‘Nawa’s wife.’ They also did not want to greet or shake hands with others.”

Police also seized liquid nitroglycerin bombs packed in plastic bags, four active pipe bombs, two bottle bombs, 4 kg of sulphur, 5 kg of gunpowder and several mobile phones at Kamidi’s house.

Kamidi was arrested in his house along with Indran Vitriyanto and Nopem after the police arrested Rudi Kurnia Putra, who just got off from a bus in Solo from Cilacap, Central Java.

Police then arrested Fajar Novianto, Barkah and Triyatno.

Police seized 12 homemade bombs and others that were partially completed along with three rifles, four swords and several jihadist books from the homes of three suspects, Boy said. Solo is the hometown of convicted radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Police are still investigating the possible link of the unnamed group to other terrorist networks, Boy said. Authorities believe it has now been largely broken up, but will continue to search for other members.

Since March, more than 30 militant suspects have been arrested and seven others killed in a series of raids in Indonesia. All were plotting domestic attacks, and some — aged between 18 and 30 — had attended a military-style training camp in Poso.

Another member of the unnamed group, alleged bombmaker Muhammad Toriq, surrendered two weeks ago in Jakarta while carrying a gun and ammunition and wearing a suicide bomber belt that did not contain any explosives. A second militant, Yusuf Rizaldi, gave himself up to police in North Sumatra three days later. Both cooperated to help bring down the group’s other members in Saturday’s raid, Boy said.

Police have said Toriq was allegedly part of an elaborate plan to shoot police and bomb the House of Representatives building as a way to wage jihad to establish Islamic Shariah law in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

He had been on the run since police flushed him out of his Jakarta house earlier this month after neighbors reported seeing smoke billowing from it. He escaped again a week later after a blast rocked a house in Depok. Police believe the bomb accidentally exploded while it was being prepared for a terrorist attack, killing one alleged militant inside the home.

When Toriq walked into a police station and surrendered after having a change of heart, he told authorities he had planned to go on a suicide bomb mission on Sept. 10, targeting either police, in particular Densus 88 officers, or Buddhists as a way to protest against treatment of the minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

A few days earlier, police arrested three terrorist suspects in Tangerang, Banten, and Bekasi, West Java, and believe that at least one of them is tied to the Depok, West Java, terrorist cell.

Boy said that one of the suspects, identified as Agus “Jody” Abdillah, was “strongly believed” to have helped hide bombmaking material for the cell.

“He is suspected of helping Toriq,” Boy said at the time.

The cell is also blamed for an earlier accidental explosion at Toriq’s home in Tambora, West Jakarta, on Sept. 5, where bombmaking material was found. The group was allegedly planning to attack police or Buddhist targets in the area.

The rise in terror plots comes after a period of relative calm in Indonesia. Almost exactly a year ago a church in Solo was targeted, but no one other than the attacker was killed, and a few months earlier a police mosque in Cirebon, West Java, was unsuccessfully targeted in an attack.

 
Source: Additional reporting from AP