Meet Indonesia's most-wanted terrorist
This article is more than 12 months old
Ambitious but inexperienced, a relatively little-known terrorist is now leading the charge to turn Poso into an Islamic State "province"
Jun 15, 2015 06:00 am
He has called on the Islamic State (IS) leadership to declare Poso on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi an IS "province".
His terrorist training camp has hosted hundreds in the rugged jungles in the region of Poso.
The Indonesian authorities, including counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88, are hunting him down.
Santoso is Indonesia's most wanted terrorist.
AMBITIOUS KILLER
- Son of a Javanese migrant to Poso
- Worked on a project for the Ministry of Public Works
- Also known as Abu Wardah, Abu Yahyaor, or simply San. He was a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and received training in Indonesia and Afghanistan
- Santoso began his religious education after meeting Isam Mohammad Tahir Al-Barqawi, a Jordanian-Palestinian jihadist cleric
- Later received cash assistance from the Poso Regional Government to create a small business as part of a deradicalisation programme
- In 2013, Santoso gave himself the name Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Al-Indunesi, after Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the founder of IS's forerunner, Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
- Took an oath to IS leader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi and wants Poso to become an IS "province"
- Has been escalating the use of violence. On Sept 19, 2014, Santoso is believed to have killed an informant by slashing his throat to mimic methods used by IS
HIS RISE
- In 2010, a Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) training camp in Aceh was discovered and authorities killed and arrested several of its members
- Many regrouped and joined Santoso, who became a junior JAT leader
- Santoso ran a training camp in Poso, which attracted former JI and JAT members
- Called his group East Indonesian Mujahideen (MIT)
- By 2012, Santoso's group had called for and launched attacks against the Indonesian police. He later declared his group independent of JAT and JI
- A media wing was formed in 2013 and videos were uploaded soon after
- His rise is unusual as previous leaders were picked based on their kinship to top leaders
HIS NETWORK
Sibghotullah
- Met and arranged wedding for Bali bomber Dulmatin
- Sought refuge with Santoso who hid him from authorities
- After his release from prison in 2014, he contacted Santoso
- He was arrested in Malaysia in Nov 2014 while trying to get to Syria with his family
Arif Turban
- Helped recruit and buy arms for jihadi groups
- Also ran jihadi website and chat forum
- He forged links overseas for local groups, including Santoso’s MIT
- Worked to raise money for his good friend Arif Wicaksono who headed Santoso’s media wing
Arif Wicaksono, alias Hendro
- Left for Poso to escape police sweep
- Has been helping Santoso run the MIT media arm
- Linked up Santoso’s struggles with global jihadists
- Made a video mocking Indonesia’s anti-terror unit Detachment 88 in 2012
- Was involved in an MIT operation commanded by Santoso which led to the kidnapping and murder of two Indonesian police officers in Poso
Mohammad Hidayat, alias Dayat
- Computer student who attended training at Santoso’s camp
- Used his IT skills to hack a multi-level marketing company website and stole about 7 bilion rupiah (S$705,000). Part of it was used by MIT to bomb a church
- In 2013, Dayat helped Santoso secure an Indonesian suicide bomber. They targeted a police station in May that year and intended to kill the police officers. The bomb exploded, but only the suicide bomber was killed
Sabar Subagio, alias Daeng Koro Santoso’s chief lieutanant
- Trained hundreds of Indonesians in Poso between between 2010 and 2014
- Many of the graduates are now all over Indonesia
- Killed on Apr 4, 2015 during a security operation
Information culled from reports by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflicts
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