The Indonesian police alleged that Islamic State has infiltrated intellectual groups in Indonesia, following the deportation of a former Finance Ministry employee from Turkey for trying to join the group in Syria. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Jakarta. A court in Jakarta has sentenced a man to five and a half years in prison for recruiting and funding the passage of Indonesians to the Middle East to join the Sunni militant group Islamic State.

The West Jakarta District Court found Muhammad Aminudin Mude, arrested in March, guilty of aiding and abetting at least 28 Indonesians trying to reach Syria via Turkey to join the terrorist organization.

Sixteen people whose passage Aminuddin helped finance were intercepted and later deported by Turkish authorities, while another 12 were intercepted while still in Indonesia.

Aminuddin was previously arrested in December on similar charges but released a day later due to what police called “lack of evidence.”

Prosecutors had sought an eight-year prison term for Aminuddin . Both sides have seven days to lodge an appeal.

Indonesia’s anti-money laundering agency, the Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center (PPATK), says financiers like Aminuddin have raised billions of rupiah to send hundreds of Indonesians to Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State.