VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chief Sugeng Teguh Santoso has lauded the National Police over the arrests of 24 terror suspects following the December 7, 2022, suicide bombing at Astanaanyar police precinct in Bandung, West Java.

"IPW appreciated the National Police's success in arresting 24 terror suspects in West Java, Central Java, and North Sumatra in the run-up to 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year celebrations," he said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The police need to take such preventive measures, particularly ahead of the holidays, such as Christmas and New Year, he added.

According to IPW's notes, the arrest of the 24 terror suspects was the success made by Densus 88 (the National Police's Anti-Terrorism Squad) in mapping terrorist networks and de-radicalizing former terror convicts,  he said.

Former terror convicts need to be embraced so that they do not return to their terror networks or become lone wolves because of exposure to misleading ideology, he added.

Chief of the public information bureau of the public relations division of the National Police, Brigadier General Ahmad Ramadhan, informed here on Wednesday that Densus 88 arrested 26 terror suspects in 5 provinces in December 2022.

The 26 suspects, who are members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror networks, were arrested in Central Java, West Java, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Riau,

"Of the 26 suspects from the two terrorist networks, 14 belong to the JAD network and 12 belong to the JI network," he said.

Seven of the terror suspects were arrested in Central Java on December 1, 2022, 6 in West Java, 10 in North Sumatra, and 1 in West Sumatra and Riau each.

The suspects were arrested before and after the suicide bombing at Astanaanyar police precinct in Bandung, West Java, which left one police officer dead and scores of others injured. (Antaranews)