Indonesia arrests terrorist suspect linked to Bali blast

JAKARTA -- An Indonesian senior police officer said here on Wednesday that members of their anti-terror squad, Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88) arrested a terrorist suspect linked to notorious terror accomplices masterminded bomb blasts in Bali that killed more than 200 lives.

"The arrest against the suspected terrorist Chandra, alias Arif Suharto, was conducted in Purworejo on Tuesday, 4: 20 in the morning," Head of Public Information Division at National Police headquarters Sen. Comm. Agus Riyanto said at his office in the small town of Purwore in Central Java province.

He added that the terrorist suspect was arrested in village of Pangenredjo while on his way to the market to sell soybean milk. The arrested terrorist suspect was identified to have been involved in efforts to conceal leaders of the notorious terrorist group of Dr. Azahari and Noordin M Top while they were on the run.

The two Malaysians led a terrorist group, which conducted bomb attacks in Bali and Jakarta since 2002 to 2009, killing hundreds of innocent people. The largest one was in Bali in 2002, which claimed 202 lives.

Azahari blew himself up on Nov. 9, 2005 after his hideout in Malang, East Java was raided by Densus 88 members. Meanwhile, Noordin was shot to death by Densus 88 members in his hideout located in city of Solo Central Java on Sept. 17, 2009.

Late last week, the anti-terror squad arrested four foreigners in Poso, Central Sulawesi province which has long been seeing terror activities following sectarian conflict in the area.

Police said that those foreigners were linked to activities of the banned organization of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), attempting to make contact with Indonesian terror group operating in the province.