TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Sulawesi Police said that dozens of men suspected to be members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terrorist network, who are being transferred from Makassar to Jakarta, are members of the Islamic Defenders Front or FPI. In response to this statement, former Secretary of DPP FPI Legal Aid, Aziz Yanuar, stated that his party did not know them.

"We don't know," Aziz simply said when contacted by Tempo on Thursday, February 4.

In a video confession that had been posted to social media, the suspected terrorist named Ahmad Aulia calls himself a member of the FPI. He claimed to have pledged allegiance to Daulatul Islam, led by ISIS leader Abu Bakar Bagdhadi.

He said that he made the oath with hundreds of other FPI members when the DPP FPI, represented by Munarman, expressed support to the Daulatul Islam in Makassar in January 2015.

Tempo contacted Munarman for confirmation, but he only gave a brief response. "I don't know him," Munarman said when contacted by Tempo, Thursday, February 4, 2021.

Munarman said that, based on the statement of former South Sulawesi FPI Secretary Agus Salim Syam, the 19 suspected terrorists were not active members of the FPI. They had joined FPI, he said, but not as members.

However, South Sulawesi Police PR chief Sr. Comr. E. Zulfan said that the dozens of JAD members are active members of FPI. Their active membership was discovered and confirmed during an investigation, which led to the Densus 88's decision to bring the investigation to Jakarta.

Read: Police Claim Nabbed Suspected Terrorists Include Active FPI Members

M Julnis Firmansyah