Indonesian police said on December 27 that they arrested six people suspected of attempting to fly to Syria to join the self-claimed Islamic State group (IS).
The detainees, including a couple and a 10-year-old child, were apprehended at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta airport while trying to travel on fake passports, local police said, adding they admitted that they wanted to carry out jihad and be martyrs in defending IS.
The alleged organiser of the trip was also captured after the arrest.
The Jakarta Post quoted the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Saud Usman Nasution as saying that the number of IS supporters embarking from Indonesia soared to 264 in October from 86 in June.
In total, an estimated 514 Indonesians have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside IS, and around half of them being students or migrant workers based in nearby countries, Nasution added.-VNA
The detainees, including a couple and a 10-year-old child, were apprehended at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta airport while trying to travel on fake passports, local police said, adding they admitted that they wanted to carry out jihad and be martyrs in defending IS.
The alleged organiser of the trip was also captured after the arrest.
The Jakarta Post quoted the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Saud Usman Nasution as saying that the number of IS supporters embarking from Indonesia soared to 264 in October from 86 in June.
In total, an estimated 514 Indonesians have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside IS, and around half of them being students or migrant workers based in nearby countries, Nasution added.-VNA
