Indonesian Terrorists Planned to Film Indonesia Church Blasts: Police

The plotters of a foiled Easter church bombing in Indonesia planned to film the attack and could be behind other atrocities, police said Friday, with the nation on its highest alert level.

Antiterror police arrested 19 suspects and defused five bombs around the church, on the outskirts of Jakarta, on Thursday.

Some of the devices had been positioned on a nearby empty plot where a gas pipe runs underground.

"They had prepared to shoot the bombing of the church and broadcast it. That was their plan," National Police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said.

He said police arrested the mastermind of the planned attack in Aceh after he fled Jakarta.

"This is a new cell. The mastermind had planned to activate the bombs on Friday at 9 a.m. using timers," Alam said.

The suspects were also behind recent "book bombs" sent to several addresses including those of liberal Muslim figures and a counter-terrorism official, police said. No one was killed in those attacks.

Many of the detainees had university degrees, according to police.

Several of the 19 arrested could also be linked to last week's suicide bombing inside a local police headquarters compound in the city of Cirebon, in West Java, police said.

The bomber, who detonated his explosives during Friday prayers in a mosque, was killed instantly and injured 30 people.

The attack was the first suicide bombing inside a mosque in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation of 240 million people.

"We are still on highest level of alert," Alam cautioned.

Jakarta police deployed 20,000 officers to safeguard Easter celebrations in the capital.

Buky Sudradjat, a Christian who lives in South Jakarta, said that he attended a Good Friday church service and found it guarded by dozens of police.

"The church service this morning was still packed with people despite the church bomb," Sudradjat said. "It's quite horrifying when I think about the bomb threat, but I still plan to come to church on Sunday for Easter service no matter what," he said.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group on Tuesday pointed to a new trend of small violent groups adopting "individual jihad" aimed at local "enemies", including police and Christians.

Agence France-Presse

Police have arrested a cameraman from Indonesian television station Global TV who was allegedly recruited to film the foiled Good Friday bomb attack on the outskirts of Jakarta.

National Police spokesman Chief Comr. Boy Rafly Amar identified the man by his initials, IF.

“He was arrested at Jakarta on Friday,” Boy told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday.

He said P had also asked IF to invite foreign cameramen to film the explosions, saying he “wanted the blast to be broadcast internationally.”

Global TV is due to hold a news conference at 2 p.m.

Boy said IF was recruited by the alleged mastermind, P, who “wanted the blast at Serpong broadcast live.”

P was arrested in Banda Aceh on Thursday in connection to the Jakarta book bombing campaign but surprised police by confessing to the presence of five pipe bombs and two much larger backpack bombs adjacent to a gas pipeline near the Christ Cathedral and an Army munitions storehouse.

The bombs were timed to explode during Good Friday services when thousands of worshippers packed the church.

P, one of 20 people detained in connection with the bomb plots, has been identified as the husband of Deni Karmelita, a civil servant working at the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).

The father of three was a graduate of Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University (UIN) majoring in Islamic religious education.

An antiterror source said P had said he had learned how to make bombs off the Internet.

“Just Google it and you’ll find how to do it easily,” the source said.

Police insiders were shocked to realize that the alleged mastermind arrested for the recent bomb attacks was a familiar face — the husband of a civil servant working for the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).

Pepi Fernando, 30, the alleged mastermind, financier and bomb maker behind Good Friday bomb plot and book bombs sent to various prominent figures in Jakarta last month, is the husband of Deni Karmelita, a civil servant working at the BNN's public
relation division, a police source told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday.

“Yes, Pepi is the husband of a civil servant working at the BNN where Pak Gories Mere works,” the source confirmed in condition of anonymity.

Both Deni and Gories, a former anti-terror official who was the recipient of one of the book bombs, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Pepi, who graduated from Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University (UIN) with a major in Islamic Religious Education, was arrested on Thursday in Aceh along with two accomplices. "He was originally from Sukabumi, West Java,” the source said.

The father of three lived at the Harapan Indah housing complex in Bekasi, West Java.

"He used to travel frequently to Aceh since he said he had a business there," said a friend of Pepi who asked not to be named. "He doesn't fit the profile of a terrorism suspect, but I know that he refuses to shake hands with other women."

The friend added: "To my knowledge Pepi once worked as a cameraman for an infotainment show but then quit. Now he runs a small business that sells watches and books. There was nothing suspicious about him. I was shocked to hear about his arrest on
Thursday.”

The National Police previously said the group leader, then only identified only as P., was responsible for installing the timer-activated explosives — two massive backpack bombs and five pipe bombs — in Serpong.

Pepi had also surveyed a gas pipeline in the area, which he was familiar with as he had gone fishing at a nearby river several times before.

When he was arrested, Pepi bragged about the existence of the bombs, which he said were created “based on Internet sites.”