TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Police have arrested five people allegedly involved in Sunday’s Molotov cocktail attack in Oikumene Sengkotek Church, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, perpetrated by a man called Juhanda. Police chief General Tito Karnavian said that police continue to develop the case. “Five persons have been arrested,” he said yesterday, Nov. 14, in Police Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Cimanggis, Depok.
According to Tito, Juhanda was linked to Pepi Fernando-led terrorist ring, before he joined the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). Juhanda was involved in planning church bombing in Serpong in 2011 and the so-called book bombs in Peukan Bada, Aceh Besar, in the same year. “They are repeat offenders, we have identified the [terror] ring, we will continue to develop [the case],” he said.
Juhanda hurled a Molotov cocktail in the parking lot of the church, leaving four toddlers wounded, one of whom, Intan Olivia Banjarnahor, died yesterday. Intan, 2.5-year-old, suffered burns to 80 percent of her body. Juhanda ran away by jumping into nearby Mahakam River before eventually being caught by onlookers.
Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said police have questioned 15 individuals for making contact with Juhanda before the church attack.
Boy declined to reveal the identity of the individuals. Police searched a house yesterday at Lowanjana Indah Residential Complex in Samarinda. The house owner Joko is allegedly Juhanda’s partner in crime. Police had seized laptops, cell phones, and documents.
Police gathered that Juhanda assembled the Molotov cocktail in three days. He made it by mixing fertilizer, sulfur, charcoal, vinegar and 70 percent alcohol. Juhanda learned how to create a Molotov cocktail during his time with Dulmatin-led terror ring in Aceh between 2009-2011. Dulmatin, killed by the Special Detachment (Densus) 88 Anti-terror personnel on March 2010, was the bomb-maker linked to 2002 Bali bombing and several bomb attacks in the Philippines.
HUSSEIN ABRI DONGORAN | REZKI ALVIONITASARI | AMIRULLAH | ISTMAN MP