Head of Operational Assistance of Densus 88 Senior Commissioner Aswin Siregar stated here on Thursday that the group has advocated values contradicting the state ideology of Pancasila.
However, the police is still investigating whether their actions can be categorized as a terror act, which is defined as the use of violence or threats of violence to realize the goal and cause widespread fear, Siregar stated.
The Densus 88 is providing assistance to regional police forces taking action against violations perpetrated by the group.
Siregar remarked that the police had conducted intensive examinations against 23 suspects involved in a series of motorbike convoys in Jakarta and other cities.
As many as 23 members of Khilafatul Muslimin have been named suspects, including the group's founder Abdul Qadir Hasan Baraja.
The suspects were arrested in different areas. Six suspects were arrested in Central Java, five in Lampung, five in West Java, one suspect in East Java and five other suspects in Jakarta.
Earlier, a spokesman of the Indonesian Police Brigadier General Pol. Ahmad Ramadhan stated that the suspects were charged with Article 14 and/or Article 15 of Law Number 1 of 1046 concerning the Criminal Law Regulations and also Law Number 17 of 2017 concerning Mass Organizations.
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"The National Police's Anti-terror Detachment 88 provides assistance and monitoring to regional police officers, who take action against violations (perpetrated by Khilafatul Muslimin)," Ramadhan stated.
Police officials are probing the suspected intent of the Khilafatul Muslimin group to disseminate false information and teach values contradicting the national ideology of Pancasila, he stated.
"For instance, the ongoing investigation (conducted) by the Central Java Police aims to probe the group's past convoy and distribution of pamphlets and flyers (propagating the group's ideas)," he stated.
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Translator: Laily Rahmawaty, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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