Several suspected ISIS terrorists were arrested in Indonesia last week for allegedly plotting to assassinate Pope Francis during his recent visit to the country.
Indonesia’s anti-terrorism police, Detachment-88, said in a statement that the seven suspects were arrested early in the week in various cities throughout the country, The Straits Times reported.
The full names of the suspects were not released, but police said their initials were HFP, LB, DF, FA, HS, ER, and RS.
Investigators made the arrests after receiving tips from the public but did not know if the suspects knew each other or if they were part of the same terror cell.
A source told the publication that a search of one of the suspect’s homes turned up “bows and arrows, a drone, and ISIS leaflets.”
The source added that some of suspects had pledged allegiance to ISIS and that at least one of the terrorists belonged to an ISIS cell that carried out an attack on the country’s then-chief security minister in 2019.
The terrorists were planning to kill the Pope because of his visit to Jakarta’s Istiqlal mosque and “the government’s appeal to television stations to refrain from the usual broadcasting of azan (Islamic call to prayer) while a live broadcast of Pope Francis’ visit was in session.”
While speaking at the presidential palace in Jakarta, the Pope called out terrorists who act in the name of their faith.
“There are times when faith can be manipulated to foment divisions and increase hatred,” he said. “Prejudices can be eliminated, and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow.”
Indonesia is an overwhelmingly Islamic country with 87% of the country’s citizens identifying as Islamic. Nearly all the Muslims in the country, 99%, are believed to be Sunni, which is the sect that many Islamic terrorist groups come from.
