Islamic militants want to kidnap businessmen, politicians and foreigners in Indonesia -- and to use the ransoms to finance their terrorist activities, the intelligence chief said yesterday.
Police said they had deployed 3,000 officers to ward off the threat.
Syamsir Siregar, who heads Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency, said his men learned of the kidnapping plot after intercepting communications from meetings held by Islamic militants.
"The terrorists want to get money by kidnapping influential figures -- and this could include businessmen and politicians," Siregar said, without elaborating.
"And as we know, they target foreigners," he said, noting that US, Australian and British citizens faced the highest risk because of their governments' involvement in the war in Iraq.
The al-Qaeda linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for five suicide bombings targeting Western interests since 2002, killing more than 240 people.
In the most recent attack three months ago, terrorists detonated backpack-borne explosives in crowded restaurants on the resort island of Bali.
The group has been hard hit by scores of arrests and the death last month of bomb-making expert Azahari bin Husin, who was gunned down in a police raid.
They also seem to be running low on cash, Siregar said. Authorities were investigating a string of bank robberies to see if they could be linked to terrorist activities.
But he said Jemaah Islamiyah may try to avenge Azahari's death by trying to assassinate the president or other influential figures.
Thousands of police have been deployed to guard high-ranking officials and foreign diplomats, said Colonel Komang Udayana of the Jakarta police force.
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