Australian link in Indonesian terror suspects

The father of an Australian-born child is among five Indonesians detained in Bali on suspicion they travelled to Turkey to join Islamic State.

Indonesian IS link

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Police on the Indonesian resort island of Bali have detained five Indonesians returning from Turkey on suspicion they travelled abroad to join the Islamic State group.

Bali police spokesman Hengky Widjaja told AAP the five are part of one family and there is also a child who was born in Australia in 2009.

The boy's father was in Australia from 2008 to 2009, Widjaja said. He did not confirm reports that the boy was born in South Australia while his father was studying for a Masters degree.

Widjaja said the three men and two women were detained after they arrived in Bali on an Emirates flight from Istanbul on Tuesday evening.

He said the group was found at a "safe house" on January 16 by Turkish soldiers.

It was the second batch of Indonesians detained this month after returning from Turkey, which has a porous border with Syria where IS militants control territory.
Last week, authorities detained 17 people, including eight women, as they arrived at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Widjaja said the five, all from northern Jakarta, left Indonesia last August 15 for Thailand to avoid raising suspicion in Indonesia. From Thailand, they flew to Istanbul, he said.

Indonesian authorities have heightened surveillance at border checkpoints following a series of foiled plots by IS supporters in Indonesia.


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Source: AAP


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