According to an interview with Andi Baso Tahir, an old friend of Santoso in Tokorondo village, in 2006 Santoso was arrested for robbing a boxcar in a coastal town of Poso. He was jailed for a year. According to the friend, after he left prison, Santoso stopped militancy for a period and "became a peddler, selling cleavers, cooking utensils and clothes".