Indonesian police have detained seven people in connection with a plot to attack Pope Francis. The Pope is on a 12-day Asia-Pacific tour and the first leg of his visit to Indonesia ended on Friday, marking the end of the first leg of the trip. The seven people were detained in the cities of Bogor and Bekasi near Jakarta, The Straits Times reported, citing a media statement by Detachment 88, the Indonesian National Police’s counter-terrorism squad.
Detachment-88 spokesperson Ashwin Siregar said that the investigation is still going on and it is not yet known whether the detained people know each other and whether they are members of the same terrorist group. Singapore’s daily newspaper ‘The Straits Times’ quoted Ashwin as saying, “We have a surveillance system. We got information about this from the common people.”
Most of the seven suspects were detained on Monday and Tuesday. A source told The Straits Times that the home of one of those detained was searched. The source said the man was believed to be plotting to attack Pope Francis, who was on a visit to Jakarta from Tuesday to Friday.
He said bows and arrows, a drone and pamphlets of terror group ISIS were recovered during a search of the man’s house. Ashwin said some of those arrested were linked to ISIS. He said the terrorists were angry over Pope Francis’ visit to Istiqlal, South-East Asia’s largest mosque in Jakarta. Ashwin said they were also angry over the government’s appeal to television stations to refrain from broadcasting the Azan during the live telecast of Pope Francis’ visit.