Indonesia’s IT Ministry today released data from the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) as evidence of 17 terror plots in which the perpetrators used recently banned in Indonesia messaging app Telegram as a means of communicating with each other to plan their attacks.
According to the ministry, suspected terrorists have been using Telegram since 2015, and the app has since been used in the vast majority of terror plots.
“Since 2015, they (terrorists) have been taking advantage of Telegram as a communication tool. Of all the terror plots that have been uncovered since then, only two did not involve (Telegram),” said Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan, director general of Information Application at the IT Ministry, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Among the 17 terror plots was a plan to assassinate former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama on December 23, 2015. Back then, Ahok was not yet facing the infamous blasphemy charges against him (for which he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment this year) but faced numerous hate-fueled campaigns from hardline Islamic groups who refused to have a minority ethnic Chinese Christian as the leader of Jakarta.
“We got this data from Densus 88 (Indonesia’s counter-terrorism unit), so for the details, they are the ones who know,” Pangerapan said.
Amongst the 16 other plots were two of the of the largest terror attacks on Indonesia in recent times (the M.H. Thamrin bombing in January 2016 and the Kampung Melayu bombing in May of this year). In addition, there were also failed plots to bomb important government locations such as the Presidential Palace and the Parliament Complex, as well as plots to bomb several churches.
The Indonesian government instructed ISPs to block Telegram on July 14. Telegram is primarily distinguished from its competitors, such as Whatsapp, by its security features including secret chat rooms and self-destructing messages.
It is these features that have led security analysts to warn that Telegram has become the messaging app of choice for terrorist groups, especially ISIS. The developers have since blocked terror channels from the app in its bid to have the ban lifted in Indonesia.
