The Jakarta Globe, 25 July 2013
A police expert has revealed that explosives seized from four suspects during a counterterrorism raid in Tulungagung, East Java, on Monday were of military origin.
“The explosives were Belgian-made grenades. They were designed and built for use by the military, not homemade explosives,” an explosives expert with the National Police’s counterterrorism unit Densus 88, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.
The police are still trying to determine how the suspects obtained the high-yield explosive devices.
“The weapons probably came from the black market that supplies weapons from Mindanao, in the southern Philippines. That’s one possibility among many,” the source said.
Two men were arrested on Monday after a shootout in Tulungagung. They have been identified by local media as Mugi Hartanto, 38, a contract teacher, and Sapari, 49, an employee at a local administration office.
Two others in the group were gunned down.
“The two men in question are M.H., a contract teacher at an elementary school and S., a staff member at a local administration office,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said on Tuesday.
The gun fight and arrests occurred during a raid on Jalan Pahlawan in Tulungagung, where the suspects were reportedly waiting for a bus.
When Densus personnel arrived on the scene, a man named Dayah opened fire, forcing the officers to shoot back in self-defense. The exchange of fire resulted in the deaths of Dayah and another suspect, identified as Rizal.
Officers subsequently seized a handgun and a bag containing explosive devices.
Dayah and Rizal had been on the police’s wanted list for a string of terrorist acts in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and Medan, North Sumatra.
An officer with Densus 88 said the men were linked to a terrorist training camp located in the jungles around Poso and run by Santoso, Indonesia’s most wanted man.
They were believed to be involved in a number of bank heists and attacks on money changers in and around Medan in 2010, in which the perpetrators got away with a combined Rp 1.09 billion ($108,500). The money was stolen to fund a terrorist training camp in neighboring Aceh province, later broken up by police.
A source said the suspects may also be tied to Cahya Fitrianta, a computer hacker who was sentenced to eight years in jail for hacking into financial services websites and using the stolen funds to pay for the Poso camp’s operations.
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do 25 jul 2013 - 3:34