Counterterrorism Special Detachment 88 ( id, Detasemen Khusus 88 Antiteror), or Densus 88, is a tier one Indonesian National Police

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

squad formed on 30 June 2003, after the

2002 Bali bombings The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other national ...

. It is funded, equipped, and trained by the United States through the

Diplomatic Security Service The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS or DS) is a security and law enforcement agency that acts as the operational division of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is a branch of the United States Department of State. Its primary mission is ...

's Antiterrorism Assistance Program and Australia. The unit has worked with considerable success against the

jihadi Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

terrorist cells linked to Central Java–based Islamist movement

Jemaah Islamiyah Jemaah Islamiyah ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which i ...

History

Detachment 88 was formed after the

and became operational in 2003. The name of the organization is a result of a senior Indonesian police official mishearing "ATA" in a briefing on the Diplomatic Security Service's Antiterrorism Assistance Program as "88". He thought it would be a good name as the number 8 is a lucky number in Asia and other officials lacked the courage to correct him.Conboy, Ken. (2006) ''The Second Front: Inside Asia's Most dangerous Terrorist Network'', Equinox Publishing, p. 23 The bilateral initiative that started Detachment 88 also started Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC). In July 2003, the first 30 Indonesian National Police officers were trained under to serve as the unit's first members under the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Initiative.http://repository.uinsby.ac.id/id/eprint/1173/1/Muhammad%20Qobidl%20'Ainul%20Arif_Behind%20the%20Gun%20of%20Densus%2088.pdf Detachment 88 has disrupted the activities of Central Java–based Islamist movement

(JI) and many of JI's top operatives have been arrested or killed. Abu Dujana, suspected leader of JI's military wing and its possible emir, was apprehended on June 9, 2007. Azahari Husin was shot and killed in 2005. The Indonesian terrorist organization suffered a further blow when arguably its last surviving and at-large prominent figure,

Noordin Mohammad Top Noordin Mohammad Top (11 August 1968 – 17 September 2009) was a Malaysian Muslim extremist. He was also referred to as Noordin, Din Moch Top, Muh Top, Top M or Mat Top. Until his death, he was Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant. Bo ...

was killed in a shootout with Detachment 88 on 17 September 2009 at

Solo, Central Java Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Suko ...

. Detachment 88 is assisted by foreign agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, in forensic sciences including DNA analysis, and communications monitoring. In pre-emptive strikes in Java, the unit thwarted attack plans to material assembly. Detachment 88 operators were involved in an operation in Poso, where 10 people, including a policeman, were killed in a gunfight during a high-risk arrest operation on 22 January 2007. In 2007, Detachment 88 arrested and interrogated West Papuan human rights lawyer, Iwangin Sabar Olif, and charged him with incitement and insulting the head of state, because he sent an SMS text message critical of the Indonesian military and president. Six members of a little-known terror cell called Katibah GR, or Cell GR, were arrested by counter- terrorism unit Densus 88 after carrying out a raid in Batam in August 2016. Police said their leader had been planning a rocket attack on Marina Bay, Singapore together with a Syrian-based Indonesian ISIS militant.

Training

This special unit is being funded by the

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

through its State Department's

(DSS), under the ATA. The unit is currently being trained in Megamendung, 50 km south of Jakarta, by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

US Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

, and Australian Federal Police. Most of these instructors were ex-US special forces personnel.Pasukan Khusus Polri Dilatih CIA
. Retrieved on 29 January 2007. Training is also carried out with the aid of Australian Special Forces and various intelligence agencies. Detachment 88 is designed to become an

anti-terrorist Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

unit that is capable of countering various terrorist threats, from bomb threats to hostage situations. This 400-personnel strong special force went fully operational in 2005. It consists of investigators, explosive experts, and an attack unit that includes

snipers A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision ri ...

. As of 2017, the unit have 1,300 personnel assigned to it.

Weapons

Detachment 88 officers are frequently seen armed with a

M4A1 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

when an operation or a raid is being conducted while the

Glock 17 Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...

pistol is used as the standard sidearm. They also use a varied arsenal of weapons such as the

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

submachine gun,

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...

MP7 Submachine gun, Steyr AUG assault rifles,

Heckler & Koch G36C The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch as a replacement for the heavier 7.62×51mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the ''Bu ...

assault rifles,

Remington 700 The Remington Model 700 is a series of bolt-action centerfire rifles manufactured by Remington Arms since 1962. It is a development of the Remington 721 and 722 series of rifles, which were introduced in 1948. The M24 and M40 military sniper ...

and

Armalite AR-10 The ArmaLite AR-10 is a 7.62×51mm NATO battle rifle designed by Eugene Stoner in the late 1950s and manufactured by ArmaLite (then a division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation). When first introduced in 1956, the AR-10 used an innovative c ...

sniper rifles, Knight's Armament Company SR-25 Marksman Rifles, M14

Battle Rifles A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16, ...

Ithaca 37 The Ithaca 37 (or Model 37) is a pump-action shotgun made in large numbers for the civilian, law enforcement and military markets. Based on a 1915 patent by firearms designer John Browning for a shotgun initially marketed as the Remington Model ...

and

Remington 870 The Remington Model 870 is a pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, LLC. It is widely used by the public for shooting sports, hunting and self-defense, as well as by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide. D ...

shotguns, and

Heckler & Koch HK416 The Heckler & Koch HK416 is a gas-operated assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. It is designed and manufactured by the German company Heckler & Koch. Although the design is based on the AR-15 class of firearm (specifical ...

rifles.

Allegations of torture and deaths in custody

The unit has been accused of involvement of torture. In August 2010, Amnesty International said in an urgent appeal that Indonesia had arrested Moluccan activists, and they had anxiety that the activists would be tortured by Detachment 88. In September 2010, the death of Malukan political prisoner Yusuf Sipakoly allegedly caused by the gross human rights abuses by Detachment 88.Political prisoner dies as 'truth walks slowly' Tom Allard, Jakarta 15 September 2010 In March 2016, the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights stated that at least 121 terror suspects had died in custody since 2007 While acknowledging that Australia did train Detachment 88, Foreign affairs minister in 2012,

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

, said he wasn't sure if the allegations were true, but would follow up.Hayden Cooper and Lisa Main http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-28/papuans-claim-australian-link-to-death-squad/4228710 "Papuans Claim Australian Link to Death Squad" Updated 29 Aug 2012, 10:40am

References

External links

Unofficial Site
{{commons category, Detachment 88 Specialist law enforcement agencies of Indonesia Non-military counterterrorist organizations