Two Indonesian pilots join IS—report
Two Indonesian pilots are believed to have joined the Islamic State (IS) movement, according to a report by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The report, which was published online in March 2015, asserts that two Indonesia pilots, identified as Ridwan Ahmad Al Indonesiy alias Ridwan Agustin and Tommy Abu Alfatih alias Tomi Hendratno, have been radicalized by IS forces and may pose an international security threat.
The AFP have tracked the involvement of the two men with the radical movement through their social media accounts.
From Ridwan’s Facebook account, the AFP learned that the man used to work with AirAsia starting in 2010 and had flown several international and domestic routes.
The police began noticing his support for IS in September 2014, when he started posting IS-related materials on his page.
The police’s source suggests that Ridwan has also posted comments on the page of Heri Kustyanyo, a member of another radical Islamic group, Jamaah Islamiyah, which is affiliated with IS and other Indonesian terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, Tommy is also affiliated with Ridwan through Facebook, as he usually indicates he likes Ridwan’s posts related to IS.
The information on Tommy’s Facebook profile shows that he is also a trained pilot and joined charter airline company Premiair in 2012.
Tommy started to publish pro-IS material in December 2014. One of his posts describes police as helpers of the oppressive government.
His recent posts mention extremist-related articles from shoutussalam.com and kiblat.com.
Although it is not clear whether the men are still working as pilots, the report has warned that the two men can pose a threat to global security because of their links to IS, as well as their access to and knowledge of the aviation sector.
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