The Densus 88 counter-terrorism unit along with the West Java Police arrested a terror suspect identified by the initials YC (25) on Monday, who revealed a massive terror plot by his group.
Authorities say YC is a member of a new terrorist cell called Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and the sixth from the group who have been arrested by the police recently.
After interrogating YC, the police learned that he had met with another member of the group, identified as AW, in May to plot major terror strikes on the West Java capital of Bandung.
“The terror attacks were planned for Persib (football club) stadium in Gedebage, the GBLA Stadium, and cafes that are located on Braga street in Bandung,” said West Java Police Spokesman Yusri Yunus, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
The GBLA Stadium has a capacity of 38,000.
Earlier this month, a pressure cooker bomb (a homemade explosive device assembled by filling in a pressure cooker with nails and buckshots) accidentally exploded inside a house in the Buah Batu district of Bandung. Soon afterwards, the police arrested AW, who they believed had assembled pressure cooker bombs and kept them inside the house, which he had rented.
AW was arrested with three others thought to also be members of JAD. In the house, police found evidence that AW had planned to detonate the pressure cooker bombs at a couple of restaurants and a church in Bandung, though there was no evidence suggesting that he planned to carry out a terror attack on GBLA Stadium then.
The police say the suspects learned to make pressure cooker bombs by watching video tutorials online.
The pressure cooker bomb was the weapon used in the last major terror attack in Jakarta, which occurred in May at the Kampung Melayu bus stop, killing three police officers and wounding 12 others.
Indonesia has suffered a series of mostly low-level attacks by ISIS-sympathizers in the past 17 months, but there are concerns that their sophistication is improving. The police believe that JAD is affiliated with ISIS.
