30,000 officers to be on New Year duty

JAKARTA (JP): Greater Jakarta is to be protected by over 30,000 police officers during New Year celebrations, in the wake of the Christmas Eve bomb blasts in major Indonesian cities, including Jakarta, which left 16 dead.

City police spokesman Supt. Anton Bahrul Alam said on Friday that while the Jakarta Police will mobilize an additional 3,600 officers for security during the New Year festivities, the elite mobile brigade (Brimob) of the National Police are contributing 2,000 officers for the celebration.

"There will be other additions (officers) stationed at every police precinct," Anton told reporters as quoted by Antara.

Despite the 17,000 officers in the capital who were on alert during Christmas Eve, bomb blasts shook the capital and left three dead.

Anton added that the Jakarta police had questioned 125 people as witnesses in the bomb blast incidents. (ylt)