The ongoing trial of veteran terrorist Suryadi Mas'ud has revealed how Indonesian militants linked up with networks in Marawi, southern Philippines, to procure M-16 assault rifles and handguns.
It has even shown how a temporary paramilitary drill was set up to train Indonesian militants to use the weapons.
Family feuds, general crime and rebel fighting have made the southern Philippines the primary destination for Indonesian militants seeking weapons and ammunition.
The rampant illegal arms trade there is supported by the flourishing gun handcrafting industry and high availability of loose firearms.
Suryadi, alias Montilia Perez, 45, had no difficulty finding help there, using a network he got to know while fighting alongside local rebels under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from 1996 to2000, according to court documents obtained by The Straits Times.
Suryadi and others who fought in the southern Philippines have become the Indonesian government's top surveillance target because they could be the link to the country's illegal firearms supply.
Suryadi had served several years in prison for his role in the 2002 Mc- Donald's bombing in Makassar, south Sulawesi, and a paramilitary training camp in Aceh in 2010.
In the current case, he has been charged with planning terror acts, procuring firearms and helping to fund terrorism. The West Jakarta district court will pass a verdict next Tuesday and prosecutors are demanding a 10-year jail sentence.
Suryadi travelled to General Santos in the southern Philippines in September 2015. His second wife Neneng Rita Anyar was travelling with him to avert suspicion during his arms procurement mission.
Suryadi visited local militants named Marod and Dato, old friends from the MILF. Marod agreed to help Suryadi. Marod would bring home firearms which were on sale and Suryadi checked their condition. He sent photos of them to Iwan Darmawan Muntho alias Rois, an Australian embassy bomber on death row in the Nusakambangan island prison, court documents say.
If Rois approved, Suryadi would test the guns in Marod's backyard. Rois arranged and funded Suryadi's mission. Suryadi paid US$30,000 (S$39,400) to buy 16 M-16 rifles, one M-14, and five handguns.
In April 2016, Suryadi met Isnilon Hapilon, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) South-east Asia chief, and proposed holding a paramilitary training programme for Indonesian militants who would be tasked with picking up the firearms from the Philippines and taking them back to Indonesia.
Isnilon agreed and an eight-day paramilitary training session was held in Basilan, using 12 M-16 assault rifles that Isnilon provided.
Suryadi earlier gave US$20,000 to Isnilon for the 12 M-16s and US$5,000 to buy a car and a boat to transport the other firearms from General Santos to Zamboanga, then to Basilan, before crossing to the Indonesian territory of Kalimantan.
Four militants from Indonesia and five from Basilan participated in the paramilitary training, led by a local named Ibnu Qoyyim.
Suryadi was arrested in a West Java hotel as part of anti-terror raids on March 23 last year, without ever managing to take any of the assault rifles to Indonesia. However the five handguns were transported in through the Sangihe island-Bitung, North Sulawesi route.
Police suspected two of the five handguns were used in Jan 14, 2016 attacks in Jakarta that killed four passers-by and four attackers.
Court documents also show how in October 2016, Suryadi travelled to Udon Thani, Thailand with his first wife Siti Armi Rahman Kotta, on a mission to help an-ISIS affiliated Uighur, identified as Hanzolah. He had broken out of a local immigration detention centre and needed help to cross into Malaysia, then to travel to Turkey.
Before leaving, Mahmud Ahmad, a former university lecturer who helped lead and finance the assault on Marawi, told Suryadi to contact a cleric in Pattani, who then told Suryadi to contact someone named Yakoh Sue Mae, who would assist with the overland trip to Malaysia.
Suryadi met Hanzolah in Udon Thani and stayed at a hotel. But during their stay, Suryadi and his wife were approached and interrogated by Thai immigration officers. He told them they were in Thailand to celebrate a wedding anniversary. Hanzolah fled the hotel and Suryadi never met him again.
