Two men in the East Java capital of Surabaya were arrested over the weekend for involvement in terrorist activities.

The special counterterror squad, Detachment 88, arrested Ahmad Basir for allegedly harbouring Noordin M. Top and the late Azahari Husin in Jemaah Islamiyah safe houses. He could also be charged with arranging for another man, Kholili, a suspect in detention for the 2005 Bali bombings, to attend military-style training in the central Javanese city of Solo, a notorious hotbed of Islamic radicalism.

Also arrested was Ahmad Arif Hermansyah, who taken into custody a day after Basir’s arrest. He is suspected of supplying Noordin’s group with the TNT used in 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy.

In related news the search for fugitive Noordin M. Top continues. Antara reported Monday that East Java’s Brawijaya Military Command had ordered all soldiers down to the village level to increase their vigilance in efforts to determine Noordin’s whereabouts.

Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Sulistyono said all soldiers should immediately report any suspicious behavior in their area to superiors so “the terrorists cannot escape and are not free to carry out criminal acts”.

Tags: Java, Surabaya, Terrorism