KUALA LUMPUR - A former Indonesian finance ministry official and his family were deported from Turkey back to Indonesia for allegedly trying to sneak into Syria to join Islamic State (IS), according to senior Indonesian security officials.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported Friday that the deportation of the family came four days after a group of 17 Indonesians were deported back to Jakarta from Turkey in a sign of a crackdown by Turkish authorities.
The father, together with his wife and three children aged between three and 12, arrived in Bali on an Emirates flight from Istanbul on Tuesday, said CNA. They were arrested by police.
"The man had a good position at the finance ministry. He was educated in some of Indonesia's top schools and earned a Master's in Public Policy from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia," a senior Indonesian security official told Channel NewsAsia.
"He was someone who had a good life in Indonesia ... a good job, economically stable. He was not in want," said the official.
He sold his home to raise money to pay for their passage to Syria because he wanted to live under a caliphate, according to the official.
The family left Indonesia on Aug 15 of last year, flying first to Thailand to avoid arousing suspicion. After three days in Thailand he flew to Istanbul, CNA reported.
In Istanbul, they were met by an Indonesian man with the initial "I" who took them to their safe house. They moved several times while in Istanbul.
"They were arrested by the Turkish military in a raid on Jan 16 and taken to the police station where they were held for a week before they were sent back to Indonesia," said the official.
There are an estimated 700 to 1,000 Indonesians in Syria, according to Indonesian counter-terrorism officials.