August 12 -- The National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad have arrested Muhammad Syaiful Sabani alias Ipul, who allegedly sought funds to finance the foiled Myanmar Embassy bomb plot in May and the bombing of a Buddhist temple in West Jakarta last week.
Photo: Blast at Buddhist Temple In Indonesia, Source: thehindu.com
National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said on Sunday that the Densus squad apprehended Ipul on the parking lot of Hotel Inna Garuda in Yogyakarta on Friday evening. “He amassed funds to finance the terror acts of Rohadi and Sigit Indrajit,” Ronny said.
In late May, the police arrested Rohadi and Sigit Indrajit in two separate raids in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, and Tangerang, Banten.
The raids were a follow-up to the arrest of their accomplices, Sefa Riano and Achmad Taufiq, in Central Jakarta on May 2.
The police made the arrest while the two were traveling by motorbike in a busy residential area near Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, and confiscated five homemade bombs from them.
They were planning to explode the Myanmar Embassy in retaliation the persecution of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group in the country.
According to the United Nations, the violence between Rohingya Muslims and the Buddhists of Myanmar’s Rakhine state has claimed more than 80 lives, displaced 22,000 people and damaged 4,600 houses. Most of the refugees are Rohingyas.
Ronny added that the police were focusing on exploring the possible role of Ipul in some terrorism-related activities, including the bombing of the Ekayana Buddhist Temple in West Jakarta on Aug. 4, during the holy month of Ramadhan. “Ipul may have financed other terror plots, including the latest bombing in the Ekayana Temple,” he said.
Two low-powered explosives went off inside the temple during a crowded sermon, injuring three people and destroying part of the site.
The police found a note at the scene stating “Kami menjawab Jeritan Rohingya” (We are responding to the cries of the Rohingyas) among the ruins, raising the suspicion that the attack is related to the violence between Rohingya Muslims and the Buddhists of Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Religious figures and activists condemned the attack, saying that it posed a threat to Indonesia’s pluralism.
The Jakarta Police are trying to create the sketch of the man who placed the explosives, using CCTV footage and witnesses’ statements.
The police will distribute the sketch in hopes of identifying the perpetrator.
However, it may take a long time to finish the sketch because the security cameras at the temple did not provide clear footages.
Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail believed that the temple bombing was probably a follow up from previous failed bombing attempt at the Myanmar Embassy. He added that the bombing was not aimed to inflict casualties, but rather aimed as a wake-up call for the government.
“I think the perpetrator is trying to call on the government to understand what is really happening to Rohingya’s Muslims as he considers that the government is doing nothing about it,” he said.
Noor said that the group to which the perpetrator belonged did not aim to attack the police, but to urge the government to respond to the Rohingya tragedy.
“This group is moved by context, not by an organization or individual radicalism. This is not like the one linked to terrorist fugitive Santoso in Poso, Central Sulawesi, which aims to attack the police,” he added.