"They joined the eastern region's JI structure," head of the public information bureau of the National Police's public relations division, Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, informed here on Friday.
Special Detachment (Densus) 88 personnel apprehended the suspects, identified as S alias M, M alias R, T alias A, P alias K, N alias A, T alias J, E alias W, N, SU, and MU, from several places around Central Java on Thursday, he informed.
They were arrested for their alleged involvement in the JI's operational activities, such as assisting the group's members, hiding fugitives, and looking for funding, he said.
Densus 88 investigators are still probing the case, he added.
ANTARA has reported earlier that Indonesia has been a target of terrorist attacks since 2000, and the spread of radicalism and terrorism has continued to threaten the country.
In May 2018, for instance, a church in the East Java city of Surabaya was attacked by terrorists, while on January 14, 2016, ISIS supporters in Indonesia carried out a suicide bombing and shooting in Jakarta, which resulted in the death of eight people, including three civilians.
The incident added to the list of deadly assaults conducted by terror cells in Indonesia.
As part of preventive measures, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo underscored the need for Indonesia to anticipate security threats posed by those involved in "cyber-narcoterrorism."
"We need to remain cautious with the rise of cyber-narcoterrorism groups, as funding terrorist activities is one of their purposes," he explained in a recent press statement.
Soesatyo said he believes that to deal with the potential threat of cyber-narcoterrorists who conduct online trade of drugs for funding terrorist activities, the government cannot solely rely on one specific institution, and that such elements should instead be jointly handled by several related agencies.
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Translator: Laily R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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