Indonesia's anti-terror force raid foundations suspected to be Jemaah Islamiyah fundraisers
Arrows are among items seized from four locations raided.
CENTRAL SULAWESI: Indonesia’s counterterrorism force on Tuesday raided four locations in Central Sulawesi province including the offices of foundations suspected to have been used as fundraisers by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network.
Densus 88 antiterror force’s raids in Sigi and Donggala regencies followed the arrest of five suspected JI members on Mar 16, news reports in Bahasa Indonesia said.
Three of the four locations searched were on Ebony and Masumpanga Streets in Tinggede and Sunju Villages in Sigi. The fourth location was a house in Wani Village, Donggala.
Among the locations searched, three of them were the offices of the Khairu Ummah Foundation and an elementary school office belonging to the foundation, as well as the office of the Friends of Justice Foundation (Sahlan). All three are in Sigi regency.
Densus 88 seized a number of items such as documents, books, laptops, as well as several weapons in the form of arrows from the four locations.
"There were organisational documents and 90 arrows that were confiscated by officers," the head of Neighbourhood Village 21 in Tinggede Village, Aspar, who like many Indonesians only has one name, who witnessed the search, was reported as saying.
Densus 88 during the Mar 16 operation arrested the five JI members in Palu city, Sigi and Donggala identified by their initials, AF, KB, RA, MA and ZA.
They were said to be JI ideologues and managers of several foundations that functioned as fundraisers. Some of them were active as teachers in elementary schools in Sigi.
The five were also said to have joined the group for more than five years.
JI was responsible for several attacks in Indonesia including the infamous 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.