by Mathias Hariyadi

Indonesian police chief raises alarm, saying something “massive” could happen in the near future. Muhammad Syahrir, a former employee of the national carrier who knows very well the capital’s international airport, is the possible mastermind.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Indonesia is on high alert. Terrorists are planning to hit the airline industry, making an attack very “probable,” this according to Indonesia’s Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri who said that something “huge” should occur in the near future. Muhammad Syahrir, a terrorist on the run, is planning a “suicide attack against airline transportation,” the police chief said.

In a document seized from the terrorist it appears that Indonesia’s most wanted man, Noordin Moh Top, recruited Syahrir (alias Aing) as a potential suicide bomber.

According to police sources, Noordin picked Aing for his past as an employee with Garuda, Indonesia’s national airline.

Graduating as a technician from a Jakarta-based aeronautics school, he worked at the airline for eight years, including a couple of years at the international airport in Cengkareng, west of Jakarta.

“He knows everything about Cengkareng’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport system as well as every kind of technical system on aeroplanes,” an anonymous source said.

The alleged terrorist quit his job in 2002 after joining jihadis in Poso (central Sulawesi)

Muhammad Syahrir is originally from West Java and the older brother of Syaifuddin Jaelani, the man who recruited one of the authors of recent attacks against Jakarta hotels.

The two brothers are also connected to Ibrohim, alias Boim, the terrorist killed in early August by police in a raid in central Java. Their sister, Sucihani, was Boim’s wife.

In response to the threat of attacks, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry has raised the terror alert and tightened security measures.

• indonesia
• islam
• fundamentalism
• suicide
• attacks
• airplanes
• jihad
• hotel
• jakarta