3 more terror plots foiled by police after Jakarta attacks

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Within a week after the Jakarta attacks that left 8 dead, Indonesian police foiled 3 more terror plots as it cracks down on extremists.

On Friday, January 22, in a television interview with Channel News Asia, Jakarta police chief Inspector-General Tito Karnavian said more terror plots were foiled, following the arrests they made of suspects linked to the attacks in Jakarta on Thursday, January 14.

Of the 13 suspects they arrested, he said 7 were planning more attacks in 3 other locations, although they were still deciding on their targets. The attacks were being planned by another cell, led by a certain “Hendro.”

Karnavian said the terrorists had gone so far as to have gotten guns from a Tangerang prison, which were stolen from the guards by inmates. The smuggling of the guns was supposedly arranged by a convicted terrorist in jail.

“It seems to us that the plot of attacks by this cell… is in the stage of survey,” he said.

He also said the officers in the prison were “quite shocked” when they were asked about the stolen firearms, “because they didn’t know thant 9 guns had been stolen and already disappeared from their storage.”

On Saturday, January 16, police said they had arrested 13 suspects who had been detained after nationwide raids since Thursday’s attacks. Pistols, bullet clips and mobile phones were also seized in the raids, along with plans detailing future attacks.

Karnavian also said that because of evidence of planned attacks, the country can now charge the 13 suspects. 

The attack has been claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has ruthlessly carved out a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq, and Indonesian police have more specifically blamed a Southeast Asian affiliate of the group known as Katibah Nusantara. (READ: Jokowi on Jakarta blasts: We condemn this act of terror) 

Never immune

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan also told the TV network that they continue to monitor activities, and are working with intelligence agencies from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia among others.

“I don’t think any intelligence agencies could tell us, ‘Tomorrow, in Sarinah and at this time they’re going to attack.’ No one can get this kind of intellience, this is very hard,” he said.

“But I can assure you we are working very hard and that we are mapping, we are successful to see the orgnanization and location of these terorrists and understand also how do they communicate. We are quite confident but again I cannot say to you we are immune from terorrist threat. That’s not going to happen. There is no country in the world that can say that, no.”

He also said the current terror threat is “imminent threat anytime,” but said he hopes it would not be this way for too long. 

“The police are working very hard and chasing some cells,” he said.

He also said the fight against terrorism in the region is not something that “can be done by one country.”

“We have to do it as a team,” he said, adding the govenrment is reviewing its anti-terror laws that aims to prohibit returning Indonesians from Syria and the Middle East if they were suspected to have trained there, among other stricter revisions. – Rappler.com/with reports from Agence France-Presse