New Arrest in Indonesia
By Kenneth Conboy
At 0500 on 24 December, members of Indonesia police counter-terrorist unit, Special Detachment 88, arrested Baridin, the father-in-law of the late Jemmah Islamiyah bomber Noordin Top. Top had married Baridin's daughter in Cilacap, Central Java, during 2006, and Baridin had helped hide his fugitive son-in-law for extended periods of time through the middle of this year. In June, Baridin fled Cilacap as the police learned of his connection to Top; in hindsight, this was one month before Top conducted a pair of hotel bombings in Jakarta.
From Cilacap, Baridin apparently took shelter in Garut district, West Java province, where he acted as a traveling sugar salesman. When he was captured he had a pair of identity cards under aliases. Although Baridin was not known as an expert in explosives or recruiting, his arrest does demonstrate that the Indonesian authorities remain on heightened alert during the year-end holiday season. Earlier this week, in fact, the newly-promoted head of Special Detachment 88, General Tito Karnavian, stated that there was evidence that the remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah are still attempting to recruit new members despite some of their most aggressive leaders getting killed over the past quarter.
