JAKARTA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian police have been investigating the linkage of 17 Indonesian nationals, who were deported from Turkey for planning to go to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, police disclosed here on Monday.
The 17 persons were deported to Indonesia by Turkish authorities after they were caught trying to enter Syria through that country's border with Turkey, said Inspector General Boy Rafly Amar, national police spokesman.
"The police are investigating their activities there. We will find out (whether they have involved IS activities) within the next two or three days," Amar said at the national police headquarters.
The 17 people, including a two-year old girl and a three year-old boy, were arrested when they arrived at Soekarno Hatta main airport in Jakarta on Saturday, and handed over to the police's anti-terror unit.
Indonesian security authorities have been monitoring dozens of citizens returned home from Syria for joining the IS activities.
The anti-terror squad has foiled scores of terrorist plots, including a major suicide bombing.
On January, 24, 2016, eight people were killed and nearly 30 others injured after suicide bombings hit a police station and a western-style coffee shop Starbucks, at the hearth of Jakarta, the first attack claimed by the IS in the Southeast Asia.
