by Abu Hanifah
JAKARTA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian police foiled the Islamic State's (IS) plan to launch terror attacks at the end of the year in the country with arrest of several militants over the weekend.
Two alleged IS militants - Bahrain Agam and Saiful Bahri - were detained by the police in the westernmost province of Aceh and Banten province on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
The arrests of were made based on the interrogation of Rio Priatna Wibawa, a militant arrested in Majalengka, West Java, on Wednesday.
"They were the masterminds who contributed to the idea of assembling bombs and took part in explosive material procurement," Indonesian police headquarters spokesman Boy Rafly Amar said on Sunday, referring to the recently-arrested militants.
Boy added that donations to their activities were identified to come from Indonesian migrant workers working in foreign countries. Some 32 million rupiah (about 2,300 U.S. dollars) has been collected from the donors, Boy said.
Police said the three militants have pledged their allegiance to the IS terror group.
Based on results of the investigation, police said they have planned to launch attacks on parliament building, police headquarters, TV stations, foreign embassies, mosques and cafes.
They allegedly had links with a terrorist group that stormed a U.S. cafe in downtown Jakarta in January that left 8 people dead.
The 23-year-old Rio is found capable of assembling explosives as police seized chemical materials and modest laboratory set in his residence.
According to the police, Rio has tested his home-made bombs in vacated plantations near his residence.
Police were surprised to find out the power of explosives that Rio can assemble, saying that the high explosives have an "industry quality."
"The explosives assembled by Rio may have more power, up to three times more powerful if compared to those detonated in Bali bombings," police spokesperson Rikwanto said on Saturday.
Rio has finished part of stages in creating the explosives. "Production of his explosives has yet to be completed 100 percent," Rikwanto added.
The agricultural college dropout had established intensive contacts with Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian fighter staying in Syria who has close connection with IS leaders there, Rikwanto said.
Rio may face a 10-year or life imprisonment should the court found him guilty of violating the nation's anti-terror law.
Indonesia has jailed a number of militants linked to the deadly January attacks in Jakarta.
Besides the arrests, the police also detained nine members of an IS-affiliated terror cell.
Spokesman Boy said investigations of those men were underway.
They were arrested in a massive demonstration staged by thousands of Muslim hardliners on Nov. 4 against blasphemous comments made by Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.
According to the spokesman, the suspects tried to create chaos and seized firearms from policemen during the violent rally.
"But unfortunately they failed as police did not bring firearms to monitor the demonstration," Boy said on Saturday.
Another protest by Muslim hardliners is scheduled for Dec. 2 to demand the detention of Basuki, who has been declared a suspect in the blasphemy case.
At least 8,700 police personnel will be deployed to monitor the demonstration and secure key government buildings.
