Indonesian police arrest seven in a failed plot to attack Pope Francis

Seven people have been arrested in Indonesia after a failed plot to attack Pope Francis during his visit to the country.

Local media says the suspects - listed as HFP, LB, DF, FA, HS, ER and RS - were held by police on Monday and Tuesday in Jakarta , and outlying cities of Bogor and Bekasi, West Sumatra.

Colonel Aswin Siregar told reporters that investigations by the national police anti-terrorism squad called Detachment-88, or Densus 88, are still ongoing.

It is not known if the detainees knew each other or were part of the same terrorist group.

“We have a mechanism to monitor and filter. We had tip-off information from members of the public,” Mr Siregar said.

“Densus 88 has taken legal action against seven individuals… who made threats in the form of propaganda or terror threats via social media in response to the Pope’s arrival.

“There was also a threat to set fire to the locations.”

Searches conducted at the home of one militant said to be planning an attack on Pope Francis - who visited Jakarta from Wednesday to Friday - yielded bows and arrows, a drone and Islamic State material, a source told The Straits Times. Some of those arrested had pledged allegiance to ISIS, he added.

The source also told the newspaper terrorists were angry about Pope Francis’s visit to Jakarta’s Istiqlal mosque where he met Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar to sign a joint declaration calling for tolerance and an end to climate change.

The government had appealed to television stations to refrain from the usual broadcasting of the Islamic call to prayer.

Indonesia’s fight against terrorism has lasted decades, marked by high-profile attacks including the 2002 Bali bombing – the largest attack suffered there and the 2009 attacks on Jakarta hotels.