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Indonesian group behind Singapore plot has "dozens of members"
[Ynet] Indonesian authorities said on Monday that several suspected bully boyz placed in durance vileKeep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! on Batam island last week were part of a group that has "dozens of members" and has been active for two years. Anti-terror forces arrested six men on Friday on suspicion of planning a rocket attack on neighboring Singapore. National police front man Boy Rafli Amar said the group mostly recruited members online and was taking instructions from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who has joined ISIS in Syria. Anti-social media: Online chats foil Singapore rocket attack plan [Rooters] It was social media chatter that gave him away. Changing his profile picture on the LINE messaging app to a banner pledging "Indonesian support and solidarity for ISIS" probably didn't help. Had it not been for all that, Gigih Rahmat Dewa's plot to launch a rocket attack on the city-state of Singapore from a nearby Indonesian island might never have been uncovered. Gigih, 31, and five accomplices were arrested on Batam island on Friday after an investigation that showed how much Indonesia's Islamist militants now rely on social media, including with a Syria-based Islamic State jihadi who allegedly directed them to stage attacks. It also underlined how militants in the world's most populous Muslim nation, once tight-knit under the Jemaah Islamiah group and internally focused, are splintering into smaller gangs loosely linked to Islamic State with increasingly regional ambitions. "The men in Batam seem to have been radicalized over social media, specifically using Facebook, rather than directly," said police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-08-09 |
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