It was late morning when a Mitsubishi pickup truck stopped in front of the auto repair shop of 45-year-old Asmon Gatot at Jalan Antasari, Bandar Lampung. Two men alighted from the vehicle and started looking for Dani Sitorus, the repair shop’s 32-year-old mechanic, to repair their vehicle’s shock absorbers. Because his colleague had not arrived, Achmad Syafei told the pair to come back later at noon. “Dani usually arrives at that time,” said the repair shop employee.

True enough, Dani arrived as scheduled. Achmad then informed him of the two men who looking for him. Not long after, the pickup truck reappeared. A man got out and explained to Dani that the shock absorbers at the rear of the vehicle were faulty. When the driver of the pickup steered the vehicle away, Dani followed. Apparently, two well-built men were waiting in front of a Kijang van parked about 20 meters from the repair shop.

Things happened fast after that. The two men immediately grabbed Dani. As he tried to break loose, punches were thrown. One of the men drew a gun and pointed it at the waist of the well-built Dani. He gave up struggling and was immediately bundled into the Kijang van with registration number BE 181 JG. That day, a Friday in early September, the group of men kidnapped Dani, the husband of 25-year-old Yuli Evrisanti.

Two days later, because her husband did not come home, Yuli, accompanied by her neighbor Muchlis, lodged a report at the local police sub-station. Muchlis coincidentally is an Army officer attached to the local military command. But the police chief was not very serious in handling the report. “He said that there was no vehicle with that registration number in Lampung. Even if there was, the owner was likely to be a person in a high position,” said Yuli, repeating what the police told her.

Dani’s whereabouts became known when volunteers from the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (Mer-C) visited Ahmad Azzam, one of their activists arrested by a team of detectives from the Jakarta Police on allegations that he was involved in terror activities—although later it was not proven. Aside from Azzam, several others were also arrested, including Dani. To Azzam and his visitors, Dani asked them to bring his wife who was then in the final stages of pregnancy.

When two volunteers from Mer-C came to invite Yuli, officers from the Tanjung Karang Police suddenly arrived and prevented them from leaving. They were then taken to the police station, accompanied by a local community leader, Endrawansyah. At the police station, the community leader was shown an arrest warrant dated September 4, 2003—two days after Dani was “taken.” He was accused of being allegedly involved in the bombing of a church in Medan, North Sumatra.

Not surprisingly, all his neighbors were shocked at what happened. Dani and his wife got along well with the local community. They also knew that Yuli was a recent convert to Islam. “Dani often joined the night watch and prayed together at the mosque,” said Endrawansyah, the community leader. His colleagues at work were just as shocked. “He prays frequently, but he’s not a fanatic. He often performs his noon prayers at only 2:30pm, because he has many customers,” said Achmad.

Misfortune also befell Abdul Hakim (not his real name). Two weeks ago, a man with a peci cap listlessly approached him while he was building his in-laws house in the corner of Lampung City. Without much fuss, the man held Hakim’s arm. As he struggled to break free, three others hurriedly alighted from a vehicle and assisted in the arrest. Hakim was quickly bundled into the group’s vehicle. And the group immediately stepped on the accelerator.

In the vehicle, Hakim was blindfolded with yellow tape. His legs were tied, while his hands were cuffed. During the near two-hour journey, he sat on the floor of the vehicle. When they eventually stopped, he was dragged to a room and interrogated. His blindfold was released, but his hands and feet were still tied.

During the interrogation, he was asked a barrage of questions related to a number of Islamic figures, including Abu Bakar Ba’asyir and Abdullah Sungkar. “As a member of the 1979-1985 Ngruki alumni, of course I know them,” said the father of three. The kidnappers accused him of being involved in the Jamaah Islamiyah organization. Hakim admitted that while he was in Malaysia he often participated in Qur’an recitation sessions with members of the Al-Arqom, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM). But he never participated in recitation sessions at the Pesantren Lukmanul Hakim, an Islamic boarding school owned by Ba’asyir.

The police were apparently trying to establish Hakim’s relationships with Dani and Abdullah Sonata. The pair, said the police, was responsible for several bombing incidents in different places. Incidentally, the duo had once been to Hakim’s house—in early August. “But, I don’t know what they talked about because they were talking in the prayer hall. And I left later because I had to teach the recitation,” said Hakim, who claimed he was not close to the two persons.

Hakim was interrogated intensively for two days. But since he was unable to provide vital information, he was released and sent home last week. Still, the kidnapping incident traumatized him. His face still reflects his extreme fear. He is still afraid and has since refused to meet visitors. The reason: he was warned that if he told anybody about the kidnapping incident, he would be arrested again.

Hakim’s arrest warrant, signed by Idham Azis, one of Lampung Police’s deputies on behalf of the Director of Detectives and Criminals of Jakarta Police, was handed to him only when he was about to be released. On the journey home, he was again blindfolded. The blindfold was only released after they entered Bandar Lampung’s outskirts. Hakim was then brought to the place where he was kidnapped.

In Solo, Central Java, an onde-onde vendor, 30-year-old Suradi, was abducted in the Pasar Kliwon area. A similar incident happened to 40-year-old Ihsan Miyarso. The cleric at the Al-Muhtadin mosque, Grogol, Sukoharjo, is still missing. Ihsan had earlier intended to go to the Mandiri Syariah Bank at Jalan Slamet Riyadi, Solo, to remit funds to one of his children, a student of Pesantren Al-Mar’atush Sholehah, an Islamic boarding school in Bekasi, West Java, and to pay his phone bills. But, since leaving his house that morning, he has simply vanished.

News about his whereabouts arrived two Thursdays ago. Ihsan called his wife, Desi Ruspia, from Jakarta. He informed Desi and his children that they should not worry because he was fine. Immediately after that statement, his telephone was disconnected. It was only later that Desi discovered her husband was being detained at National Police HQ. Two persons had come and handed her four letters informing her of Ihsan’s arrest—for allegedly committing terrorist acts. One of the letters mentioned that Ihsan had been summoned twice, but he failed to show up, which is why he was arrested.

Kidnapping was also used to arrest 38-year-old Bambang Tutuko in Semarang. He was forcibly detained one Sunday in mid-September, while he was preparing for a multi-level marketing presentation on herbal medicine at Jalan Menteri Supeno, Semarang. On his way there, 11 police officers arrested the lecturer from University of Semarang’s Civil Engineering Faculty.

News of the arrest of this simple, bespectacled man was only made known to his wife and Sutrisno, a community leader, later in the in the afternoon. Three plainclothes police officers had visited Sutrisno’s house and asked him to act as a witness in their search of Tutuko’s house. An hour earlier, a police officer had returned Tutuko’s car and his two children. Sources at the Central Java Police said that the son of the former regent of Jepara, Hisyom Prasetyo, was arrested with two others and was accused of being involved in terrorism. Two others were identified as Thamim, a Malaysian national, and Syamsul Bahri, a Jakarta resident. That Sunday night, the trio were brought to Jakarta on Garuda’s last flight from the A. Yani Airport in Semarang, and sent to the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

A string of other kidnappings were also apparently carried out in North Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok, Tangerang, Cileungsi and several other places. It is estimated that about 30 mosque activists were forcibly detained. Several were accused of terrorism, while it is still unclear what the reasons may be for the detention of the rest.

It appears that the arrest of the more than a dozen persons was triggered by the police’s desperation at their helpless position. Said a source in the Police Headquarters, the police were under pressure. While the person responsible for the bombing of the House of Representatives (DPR) had not been caught, another bomb—which was more devastating—exploded at the J.W. Marriot Hotel. The police then adopted this tactic of casting a net. “A large fishing net was cast to arrest those suspected of being involved in the bombing incidents,” said the source.

Unfortunately, because a large net was used, even the uninvolved were also caught. This is the case with Ahmad Azzam and Abdul Hakim, who were later released due to lack of evidence. Because of that, Mahendradatta, the head of the Muslim Advocate Team, who was asked to assist the family of the victims, plans to file a lawsuit against the police. The kidnappings are regarded as contravening the law. Further, the police informed the neighbors of those arrested that they were being arrested for suspected involvement in terrorism. “The community could ostracize their families and probably result in something like a hereditary sin, similar to the stigma of the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) in the past,” he said.

Hanibal W.Y. Wijayanta, Fadilasari (Lampung), Sohirin (Semarang) and Imron Rosyid (Solo)