Indonesian Police Arrest Man Suspected of Facilitating Daesh Recruitment

Indonesian police have arrested an individual suspected of being part of a group of people that helped Indonesian citizens join the ranks of Daesh jihadist group in Syria, police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar announced.

BALI (Sputnik) – According to police, seven other people have been arrested who are thought to have helped Indonesians go to Syria to join Daesh. Some of the arrested are suspects, while others have been classified as witnesses.

"He was arrested at 8 o’clock this morning in Bekasi, West Java," Amar told journalists in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by Benar News, adding that the suspect’s "expertise is in preparing, motivating and provisioning people who want to go, and teaching them techniques for lying if they are caught."

Indonesia and Malaysia, the two most-populated Muslim-majority countries of the region, are the homelands of the largest percentage of Daesh fighters originating from Southeast Asia.

Daesh, a radical Sunni group, is banned in a range of countries, including Russia. It has captured vast areas in Iraq and Syria and has claimed responsibility for an array of attacks carried out in various countries.

On January 14, 2016, a series of explosions and gunfire occurred in central Jakarta, near a United Nations information center. Four civilians and four attackers were killed and over 20 people were injured in the attack. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.