[8] The unit has worked with considerable success against the jihadi terrorist cells linked to Central Java–based Islamist movement Jemaah Islamiyah.

[10] The name of the organization is a result of a senior Indonesian police official mishearing "ATA" in a briefing on the Diplomatic Security Service's Antiterrorism Assistance Program as "88".

The Indonesian terrorist organization suffered a further blow when arguably its last surviving and at-large prominent figure, Noordin Mohammad Top was killed in a shootout with Detachment 88 on 17 September 2009 at Solo, Central Java.

The unit is currently being trained in Megamendung, 50 km south of Jakarta, by the CIA, FBI, US Secret Service, and Australian Federal Police.

[19] In September 2010, the death of Malukan political prisoner Yusuf Sipakoly was allegedly caused by the gross human rights abuses by Detachment 88.

[22] While acknowledging that Australia did train Detachment 88, Foreign affairs minister in 2012, Bob Carr, said he wasn't sure if the allegations were true, but would follow up.