Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism police squad has arrested at least 59 suspected militants in recent weeks in a nationwide crackdown as the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country gears up for elections in 2024. Police said Tuesday that arrests were made in eight provinces since Oct. 2, including 27 suspects who were arrested Friday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism police squad arrested at least 59 suspected militants in recent weeks in a nationwide crackdown as the country gears up for elections in 2024, police said Tuesday., said Aswin Siregar, the spokesperson of the squad known as Densus 88. Those arrested believed to have links to banned extremist groups who were allegedly plotting to disrupt next year’s election, he said.
Siregar said the arrested suspects told investigators during interrogation that “they have planned action to attack security forces to thwart or disrupt next year’s election.”Indonesia’s leading presidential hopeful picks Widodo’s son to run for VP in 2024 election“They want to establish a caliphate under Sharia in a secular country,” Siregar said. “Elections are a part of democracy, which is contrary to their beliefs. Therefore, they planned to thwart it.
He said 19 of the arrested are suspected of being members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group responsible for attacks including the JI was banned by a court in 2008 and has been weakened by a sustained crackdown on militants by counterterrorism police, with support from the United States and Australia.
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