TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian revealed that authorities recorded 17 cases of terrorist cells communicating through Telegram over the past two years.
Police claim that the instant messaging app helped terrorists conduct attacks such as the Thamrin Bomb Attack and mass-shooting, the knife attack against police at Falatehan Mosque, the pressure cooking bomb explosion in Bandung, and the deadly attack at the North Sumatra Police headquarter.
Read: Police Chief Reveals Reasons for Blocking Telegram
“These terrorist networks are aware that landline telephones, mobile phones, and text messages can be tapped. Therefore, they sought for other alternatives ways to communicate, including Telegram,” Tito Karnavian said on Monday, July 17.
Telegram adopts an end-to-end encryption that enables users to safely communicate with each other, which authorities were unable to tap into. Terrorist cells have taken advantages of the safety feature to plan an attack.
Telegram also has a group feature where users can gather in one channel that can accommodate up to thousands of people.
Tito suspects that Telegram users are able to create an anonymous account without publishing their actual phone number, hampering authorities to hunt down suspected terrorists.
Read: Telegram Obeys Indonesia; Blocks Terror Content
NUR QOLBI I S. DIAN ANDRYANTO