Six suspects held over Istiqlal blast<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Police have apprehended six people for their
\nalleged roles in the April 19 blast at the Istiqlal Grand Mosque
\nin Central Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi said
\non Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"We're currently detaining six people and preparing the
\ndossiers to be submitted to the prosecutor's office,\" National
\nPolice chief Gen. Roesmanhadi said at a media briefing on the
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
In an unusual display of reticence, the police chief refused
\nto provide further details.<\/p>\n
Roesmanhadi told the media to obtain the information from
\nchief of detectives Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.<\/p>\n
\"My detective chief will explain it to you,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Da'i in turn told the media to talk about the matter with
\nJakarta Police officers.<\/p>\n
He then went off to find Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig.
\nGen. Sutanto, who was the only senior police officer at the
\nmeeting at National Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
The runaround continued when the media were told Jakarta
\nPolice chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman would hold a special
\npress conference to reveal further details later in the
\nafternoon.<\/p>\n
The anticipated media conference did not eventuate.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear why the officials refused to disclose
\ninformation concerning the arrests of the suspects, who allegedly
\nwere responsible for the blast in the largest mosque in the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
There was speculation the officers were reluctant to expose
\nthe matter because of the religious element in the case.<\/p>\n
A source close to the investigation later said the six
\ndetained people included student activists and a scavenger.<\/p>\n
The blast on the ground floor of the six-story mosque
\ngenerated widespread speculation regarding the motive behind the
\nexplosion. A political motive was one theory put forward by
\nobservers.<\/p>\n
At least 28 people have been questioned as witnesses in
\nrelation to the blast in a bid to identify two men suspected of
\nplanting the bomb, who entered the mosque compound on an RX-King
\nmotorcycle.<\/p>\n
Earlier, police released the results of laboratory
\nexaminations on the chemical ingredients of the explosive
\ndevices.<\/p>\n
The powerful blast which shattered windows of at least 21
\noffices of Muslim-based organizations at the Mosque was
\nreportedly caused by a bomb containing the highly explosive
\nmixture of trinitroluene (TNT) and potassium chlorate (KCLO3).<\/p>\n
Explosive substances are only sold to limited industries,
\nincluding the military and mining companies.<\/p>\n
Early last month, Jakarta Police detectives reportedly
\narrested three suspects, identified only as Srd, By and Ant.<\/p>\n
They said that four other suspects were still at large.<\/p>\n
One of the four wanted criminals was a key suspect in the
\ncrime and was said to be hiding in the East Java capital of
\nSurabaya. (emf)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/six-suspects-held-over-istiqlal-blast-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}