Indonesia tightens security following terror arrests

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia

Indonesian police have tightened security in a number of areas following the arrest of five alleged members of a terrorist group suspected of planning a suicide bombing on the presidential palace.

Two men and a woman are being questioned after they were picked up in a house with three kilos of explosives in West Bekasi, West Java on Saturday afternoon.

They are accused of being members of a terrorist network led by Syria-based Indonesian national Bahrun Naim, suspected by police to have orchestrated terror attacks in Jakarta in January.

"We continue to increase alertness [against any terror act]," Jakarta police spokesman Commissioner Awi Setiyono was quoted as saying by detik.com.

Police have said they suspect the detainees wanted to set off the bomb on Sunday during the palace's change of the guard ceremony.

On Monday, National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said that seven suspects have been named from their investigation into the discovery of the explosive.

“As of today [Monday], seven people have been named suspects, including the alleged bomb assembler who was arrested in Ngawi,” Amar said according to the Jakarta Post.

He added that the woman was suspected to have been prepared for a suicide bombing mission and all seven are suspected of membership of Naim's Jamaat Ansar Khilafah Daula Nusantara (JAKDN) group.

“Thus, these terror cells had direct contacts with Bahrun. They operated in several cities. They belonged to a terror cell in Surakarta, Central Java. They had planned a terror attack, in which Bekasi was just a transit area before they moved to their main target area, Jakarta."

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian was quoted by the Post as saying that the cell had prepared bombs using a pressure cooker that they learned to assemble on the internet.

"For the mission, Bahrun provided funds he sent via banks. Nur’s second wife, the woman arrested, was prepared as ‘the bride’,” he said, adding that the security post at the palace in Jakarta was their main target

Setiyono said that all those arrested were being questioned in Jakarta and the "anti-terror team continues to work to investigate the network".

He added that security will be raised nationwide during the Christmas and New Year period

"Churches are vulnerable to security breaches, and will receive extra attention," he said.