SOME TERROR SUSPECTS BELIEVED STILL AT LARGE IN LAMPUNG

Bandarlampung, April 15 (ANTARA) - Lampung Police chief Brig Gen Sulistyo Ishak said a number of terror suspects were currently still at large in Lampung province, hiding among the local people.

"Some of the terrorists arrested in Lampung were not local residents but we believe some of those who escaped arrest are still in the province and have blended with the local people," Sulistyo said here on Wedenesday.

He therefore asked the people of Lampung to cooperate with the police to narrow down the space in which the terrorists could operate.

"Cooperation between the police and the local people is needed to support our mission to eradicate terrorism, and thus, I hope all parties will inform us if they find something suspicious in their respective neighborhoods," Sulistyo said.

But he denied rumors that Lampung was becoming a terrorist breeding ground and said he had so far not seen any evidence of local people being recruited by terrorist elements.

"I do not believe Lampung will become a base of terrorist activity. Therefore, I want all elements of the public here to cooperate with the police to wage war on terrorism," he said.

Police in Medan, North Sumatra recently arrested three suspected terrorists and two of them proved to be Lampung residents, namely Komrudin (35) of Bandarlampung and Yusuf Arifin (25) of Lampung Timur.

Sulistyo said the Lampung police were intensively watching over a number of districts in the province, especially Lampung Timur, Pesawarn, and Lampung Barat, following the arrest of some terrorists of Lampung origin in Aceh and North Sumatra recently.

Sulistyo added that according to police findings, many alumni of a certain Islamic boarding school (Ponpes) in Central Java were now living in Lampung, and it was feared that they would spread the wrong teachings that lead to terror acts.