A ringleader in the Poso incidents now in police custody
Poso (AsiaNews) One of the men behind sectarian strife and violence in Poso, in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, is now in the hands of the police.
From its Palu headquarters, the police announced that its special anti-terrorism unit, Densus 88 AT, arrested Andi Makasau and six members of his criminal gang.
According to a police spokesman, the group is suspected in several violent incidents that have taken place in Poso and Palu since 20011 including hold-ups, shootings and bombings.
Police Senior Commissioner Didi Rochyadi confirmed that six suspected terrorists fingered Makasau "as responsible for the violence". Interrogators were told that Makasau "forced his colleagues to cough up 15 per cent of the stolen goods for Jihad".
At the scene of the arrest, the police also found rifles, pistols, rounds of ammunition as well as a pair of police elite mobile brigade uniforms likely used in attacks to make people believe that the police itself was involved in the violence.
Investigators are convinced that Makasau's gang played an important role in shootings in Tangkura and the bombings at the Poso market in November 2004 and at the predominantly Christian Tentena market in May 2005.
They are also trying to establish links, if any, between the seven men and the attack against Palu's Christian market on December 31, 2005, and the latest attack against the Jagad Nata Stana Ngarayana Hindu Temple in Poso, last Saturday.
Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brigadier General Oegroseno released a statement in which he describes four types of terrorist criminal gangs in Poso according to their modus operandi, namely the bombers, the shooters, the knife-wielders and the professionals. The last groupthe professionalsare the most dangerous, true "killing machines" since they have contacts with other gangs and know how to coordinate their activities with them.
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