Indonesian police have arrested seven people on suspicion of being involved in an Islamic terror plot to attack Pope Francis, who is visiting the country.
Coordinated arrests Happened The attacks took place in Jakarta, the nearby cities of Bogor and Bekasi, West Sumatra and Bangka Belitung Islands province, according to a statement released on Friday by Indonesia's national counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88.
The statement listed the initials of those detained – HFP, LB, DF, FA, HS, ER and RS – and specified that the majority of the arrests took place on 2nd and 3rd September.
Detachment-88 Spokesperson Colonel Aswin Siregar said It is not yet clear whether the seven suspects know each other or are members of the same terrorist cell.
“We have monitoring and filtering mechanisms in place and we also get tip-offs from the public,” Aswin said.
Aswin told reporters that legal action had been taken against seven people who “made threats through social media in the form of propaganda and terrorist threats in response to the Pope's arrival.”
“There were also threats to set the place on fire,” he added.
One source of information said Local media reported the attackers were angry about Pope Francis' visit to Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque and a government request that television stations refrain from broadcasting the usual adhan – the Muslim call to prayer – during live coverage of the papal visit.
The source also said some of those arrested had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and that a search of the home of one of the detainees uncovered bows and arrows, drones and ISIS leaflets.
“One of those arrested is a militant belonging to the same terrorist cell that attacked Wiranto,” the source said, referring to Indonesia's former security minister who was stabbed by two Islamist terrorists in 2019.
Pope Francis famously denied the existence of Islamic terrorism in 2017. “There is no Christian terrorism. There is no Jewish terrorism. There is no Islamic terrorism,” he said.
The pope left Indonesia on Friday to continue his 12-day tour of Southeast Asia, arriving in Papua New Guinea, after which he is due to visit Timor-Leste and Singapore.
