By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Indonesia's police force said Monday that it is investigating five men suspected of involvement in the recruitment, organization and transportation of nationals to join Daesh in Syria.
The men are presently being interrogated after being captured Saturday by Indonesia's special anti-terror guard in Jakarta and in Bekasi, on the capital's eastern border.
The deputy head of national police, Brig. Badrodin Haiti, told reporters at police HQ in Jakarta that the men were "raising funds, recruiting new members and disseminating Daesh propaganda."
"We are now focusing on how many people have been recruited and sent there [to Syria]."
The government has previously said that around 514 people have joined Daesh in Syria.
Another 32 people thought to be on their way to join Daesh have either been arrested, are missing, or went missing in Turkey.
On March 4, Turkey notified Indonesia that it had arrested and detained 16 Indonesians - one man, four women and 11 children - in the Turkish border province of Gaziantep - 97 kilometers north of Aleppo, Syria.
News of their detention had sparked speculation that they were the 16 members of an Indonesian tour party who went missing after entering Turkey at the end of February.
However, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Matsudo said last week that the tour group had yet to be located.
Indonesia's police have said they suspect that the women in the party were attempting to get into Syria to be united with their husbands.
On Sunday, a joint team from Detachment 88 anti-terror squad raided houses belonging to the men in four different locations.
From their homes, police have said they removed books on jihad, uniforms, and Daesh flags. Other items seized included five laptops, nine cell phones, passports and plane tickets, weapons and guns.
"These uniforms were allegedly used by children in video footage of ISIS [Daesh] on YouTube," Tempo.co. quoted the Chief of Jakarta Metro Police, Inspector General Unggung Cahyono, as telling reporters.
The video titled "the light of Tarbiyah on the Caliphate World" has been circulating since March 15. It contains footage of children aged between 7 and 15 years old practicing war games and carrying arms in a house with a large courtyard flying the flag of Daesh.
He said that the five men would be charged under the country's anti-terrorism act.
Separately, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, says the Government is presently unable to charge people under its law with seeking to join Daesh.
"We have not explicitly declared Daesh as illegal. There should be a declaration first, so the Government could provide sanctions on them," he told reporters.
In an introductory speech of the International Conference on Terrorism and ISIS (Daesh) in Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on Indonesians to prevent the spread of Daesh ideology.
He added that a stable political climate, balanced economic prosperity, and moderate thinking would help banish such radical ideology.
"Someone could die, but the thought is not easily eradicated so it must be changed with the right mindset," said Kalla.
