 Intelligence officials in Indonesia say plans by militant groups to kidnap politicians, business leaders and foreigners may be more about boosting their depleted funds than acts of terrorism in themselves. The head of Indonesia's state intelligence agency (BIN) has told reporters that Islamic militants had plans to use ransom money to fund their terrorist activities. Syamsir Siregar told reporters that BIN had intercepted communications from a meeting held by terrorist groups. He said they wanted to get money from the kidnappings. A week ago he warned that terrorist groups were planning to switch tactics over the Christmas-New Year period from bombings to kidnappings, and police have confirmed that 18,000 extra police have been put on the streets including 3,000 specifically assigned to protect the homes of prominent people and diplomats. |