Police name four more suspects in Makassar blasts<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Makassar\/Solo\/Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
In another breakthrough, police investigators in the South
\nSulawesi capital of Makassar named on Wednesday four more
\nsuspects in last week's deadly bombings of a McDonald's
\nrestaurant and a car dealership there.<\/p>\n
South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said the
\nfour new suspects were identified as Hisbullah Rasyid, Dahlan,
\nLukman and Suryadi.<\/p>\n
\"Police have detained two of the four suspects,\" Firman told a
\nnews conference at his office in Makassar. The two were
\nidentified as Suryadi and Lukman.<\/p>\n
The naming of four new suspects brought the number of suspects
\nin the Dec. 5 bombings to 10.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, conflicting reports surfaced Wednesday on Agung
\nHamid, with police in Solo, Central Java, claiming to have
\narrested the alleged mastermind of the Makassar bombings, while
\npolice in Makassar vehemently denied the report, insisting that
\nthe Afghanistan-trained bomb expert was still at large.<\/p>\n
Solo Police Chief Sr. Comr Hasyim Irianto insisted on
\nWednesday that his people had captured Agung Hamid in Gerbang
\nKertosuro in Sukoarjo, Solo, and flew him to Bali on Wednesday
\nmorning along with Mukhlas, the alleged operations chief of
\nJamaah Islamiyah (JI), and his accomplices.<\/p>\n
But Firman denied the report on the arrest of Agung Hamid, a
\nsuspected member of the radical Laskar Jundullah group, saying
\nthe police still were tracking him down across the country.<\/p>\n
\"We have not yet arrested him. He is still the subject of a
\npolice manhunt,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Firman said that police there were holding six of the 10
\nsuspects and were still hunting down the remaining three -- Agung
\nHamid, Hisbullah and Dahlan.<\/p>\n
According to Firman, the questioning of Suryadi has helped
\npolice to swiftly uncover the Agung Hamid-led plotters behind the
\nMakassar blasts.<\/p>\n
The decision to declare the four suspects was also based on
\ninformation provided by Suryadi and several other witnesses, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Suryadi was arrested as a suspect for his alleged involvement
\nin a recent robbery case in Manado, North Sulawesi. He was flown
\non Tuesday night to Makassar from Jakarta, where he had been held
\nat the National Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
Lukman was meanwhile arrested early on Wednesday at Sidrap
\nregency, South Sulawesi, Firman said.<\/p>\n
\"Based on our investigations, the four new suspects were
\ninvolved in the planning and execution of the bombings. It was
\nproven that they attended meetings (to discuss the plans) in
\nSeptember and October in Makassar,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He accused the four of being involved in seeking funds,
\nassembling bombs and finding locations in Makassar to attack.<\/p>\n
Firman also warned that Agung Hamid was fleeing with at least
\nfour bombs ready for detonation in certain places.<\/p>\n
\"It is based on data obtained by the investigators,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said the key suspect and his accomplices assembled at least
\n10 bombs and that six of them had been detonated -- two in
\nMakassar, two in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso and two others
\nin Manado.<\/p>\n
\"So Agung Hamid still has four bombs to detonate,\" Firman
\nsaid, adding that the police were intensifying coordination among
\nthe security authorities to anticipate further bomb attacks.<\/p>\n
He admitted the police had no knowledge of the real motives
\nbehind the Makassar blasts. The investigators have linked the
\nexplosions with the Oct. 12 Bali bombings that killed over 190
\npeople mostly foreigners.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, Agung Hamid's mother-in-law Siti Jumu Wariyah
\nalias Mrs. Surahmat, 70, came to the local office of the Legal
\nAid Institute (LBH), complaining about insecurity after the
\npolice raided her family home in Serangan, Notoprajan, on Monday
\nto search for the suspect.<\/p>\n
She accused police of not showing a \"sympathetic\" attitude
\nduring the raid by jumping over the fence and knocking on the
\ndoor very rudely. \"At the time, our family panicked because there
\nwas a threat to break in the door,\" Siti said.<\/p>\n
She denied knowing the whereabouts of Hamid, but assured the
\npolice that her family members were prepared to cooperate with
\nthe investigators.<\/p>\n
Responding to the complaint, Budi Hartono of the LBH
\ncriticized the way the police raided the house, saying it was a
\n\"bad precedent\" for the security authorities in Yogyakarta in
\ndealing with such a case.<\/p>\n
He urged the police to act on the basis of proper procedures
\nand not to involve so many officers in a raid. \"Our client is
\nready to cooperate with the legal authorities,\" he added.<\/p>",
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