TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Central Sulawesi Provincial Police gave the assurance on Thursday that the Santoso-led terrorist group in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has received fund assistance from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
The police found the flow of ISIS fund to the terrorist group in the wake of a firefight between the terrorist group and security force at Tounca village in Poso district on Friday (January 15) which left one suspected terrorist dead.
But Head of the Tinombala Territorial Operation Senior Commissioner Leo Bona Lubis refused to divulge how much the fund is and how the fund was transferred to the Santoso-led terrorist group.
The fund was transferred to the terrorist group several times through bank accounts owned by a foundation and individuals, he said.
Leo said security force also found a number of important documents and new directions in the wake of the firefight.
The documents revealed the Santoso-led terrorist group's plan and organizational structure following the death of suspected terrorist Daeng Kooro.
"Based on the documents, the group is still hiding in the forest," he said.
The National Police are stepping up cooperation with the Indonesian Military in the manhunt for the East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group in Poso, Central Sulawesi, in the wake of January 14's terror attacks in Jakarta.
"We are intensifying (the manhunt)," Chief of the National Police's Public Relations Division Inspector General Anton Charliyan said at the National Police Headquarters on Thursday.
He said the East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group is believed to have links to the perpetrators of the Jakarta terror attacks which left eight people dead and 20 others injured.
"They (the East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group) are a pro-ISIS group," he said.
Charliyan said the police feared that Poso which serves as the stronghold of the East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group may turn into another Moro in the Philippines. "We fear Poso will become another Moro. Don't let them use Poso as the stronghold of their struggle," he said.
Through the joint operation code-named Tinombala, the National Police and the Indonesian Military have launched a manhunt for leader of the East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group Santoso and members of the group.
Tinombala is the continuation of the operation called Camar Maleo IV which terminated in December last year.
ANTARA
