DHAKA: Four foreign nationals believed to be linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have been arrested by counter-terrorism police in central Sulawesi, in the first known instance of foreign radicals travelling to the archipelago to establish links with local groups in recent months.

Police had initially said they were Turkish nationals based on their forged passports, but later clarified they were Uighurs from China’s restive Xinjiang region who had travelled through Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.

At a hastily convened meeting of his security Cabinet on Monday, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told officials to keep a closer watch on foreign elements in Indonesia and to stop Indonesians from leaving to join the ISIS.

He also instructed them to monitor radicals fighting abroad or who are in prison, as well as known hot spots.

‘We shouldn’t be lulled (into thinking) that the danger is only in the Middle East. If we are not vigilant… similar acts of violence could also happen here,’ he said, reports The Straits Times.

The Indonesian authorities said the suspected terrorists were trying to meet wanted militant leader Santoso, who leads the Eastern Indonesian Mujahidin and swore allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July in videos widely circulated on YouTube.

The arrests came amid an ongoing global crackdown on ISIS and growing concern that the militant group is sending men to the region to widen its reach, just as Al-Qaeda operatives were sent here to reach out to the Jemaah Islamiah over a decade ago.

Police said the four men were arrested on Saturday after fleeing a police check in Parigi Moutong, close to Poso, a militant hotbed, and flown to Jakarta for questioning Monday.

Police have not officially released their names. Three Indonesians with them in Sulawesi were also detained.

BDST: 1224HRS, SEP 15, 2014