Pindad, police give conflicting account on AG office bomb<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): State-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad
\ndenied on Friday reports it produced the bomb found at the
\nAttorney General's Office in Jakarta on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"PT Pindad does produce explosives. But a statement saying
\nthat the bomb found at the Attorney General's Office was made by
\nPindad needs verification,\" Pindad production director Adik A.
\nSoedarsono told journalists in Bandung.<\/p>\n
Police found the bomb and a broken timer tied between pipes in
\nthe ceiling of a second-floor bathroom in the attorney general's
\nbuilding on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a homemade bomb
\nexploded in the same building.<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Rusdihardjo has identified the
\nsecond bomb as an M1 explosive manufactured by PT Pindad.<\/p>\n
Pindad's operation is under the auspices of the Army, and the
\nM1 explosives are produced only for the Army's purposes, Adik
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Any Pindad product bears the type of explosive, the company's
\nlogo and production code number,\" said Adik.<\/p>\n
He said he did not know what kind of explosive was found in
\nthe Attorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
\"There is a possibility that certain parties have used PT
\nPindad's name illegally, because we are not the only explosive
\nproducer in the world.\"<\/p>\n
According to Adik, PT Pindad produces M1 and M2 explosives
\nwith differing contents (weight) of TNT. \"The M1 type contains
\n60, 120, 160 and 225 grams of TNT, while the M2 type has 450 and
\n500 grams of TNT.\"<\/p>\n
Bandung Regional Police chief Sr. Supt. Alex Bambang
\nRiatmodjo, however, gave a conflicting statement. He said the
\npolice had verified the explosive came from PT Pindad.<\/p>\n
Bambang was working with the South Jakarta Police in verifying
\nand cross-checking the type of bomb found at the attorney
\ngeneral's building and the types of explosives manufactured by PT
\nPindad.<\/p>\n
He said the second explosive device found at the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office was very powerful. \"It was produced in PT
\nPindad's production center in East Java and was dispatched to an
\nArmy arsenal in Jakarta on Dec. 30, 1996. But we have no idea how
\nthe explosive got out of the arsenal.\"<\/p>\n
Denial<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jakarta Military Commander Ryamizard Ryacudu
\ndismissed on Friday the possibility that any of his troops were
\ninvolved in planting the bomb.<\/p>\n
\"There has been no reports at all that we lost any of our
\nexplosives. So it's impossible that my men were involved,\" he
\ntold journalists at City Hall after attending a meeting on
\nsecurity in the capital.<\/p>\n
\"We checked all of our arsenals immediately after the
\nexplosion. Not even a single bullet was missing,\" he said, adding
\nthat the command was not the only user of such explosives.<\/p>\n
\"Explosives are widely distributed outside the military. Even
\nfishermen and limestone miners use them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ryacudu also said it was possible the bomb came from a foreign
\ncountry. \"Besides our domestic supply, the military also procures
\nits armaments from foreign countries. We don't know yet for sure
\nabout it.\"<\/p>\n
Also in Jakarta, the head of the National Police's Forensic
\nLaboratory Center, Brig. Gen. M.A. Erwin Mappaseng, said the
\npolice had failed to detect the second bomb while combing the
\ncompound on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\"The electricity went out right after the explosion and the
\ndetector device could not spot the bomb. The wall was too thick
\nfor the detector to locate it,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
A chemist at the forensic laboratory said the second bomb had
\nbeen set to explode at midnight, about six hours after the
\nhomemade bomb exploded on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
\"It's likely that the bomb was expected to destroy the whole
\nbuilding while many people were gathered inside and around the
\nbuilding due to the first blast,\" he told journalists at the
\nAttorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
He also said police would find it difficult to identify those
\nresponsible for planting the bomb from the fingerprints found at
\nthe scene. \"There are lots of fingerprints on the bomb and also
\nat the site.\" (25\/bby\/nvn\/sur)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pindad-police-give-conflicting-account-on-ag-office-bomb-1447893297",
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