71 nabbed in raids ahead of Asia-Africa summit
Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
City police have arrested 71 people in various raids throughout the city over the last week in an effort to ensure security at the Asia-Africa Summit from April 22 to April 24.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said on Wednesday that the raids were intended to eliminate all possible dangers and make the participants feel safe before and during the conference.
"All of them were arrested at separate locations in Jakarta for carrying weapons, firearms and drugs. Around 52 people were found carrying sharp weapons, 2 carrying guns and the remainder in possession of drugs," said Tjiptono.
He said that the police would continue to conduct similar raids until all the state guests returned home on April 25.
A total of 24,701 personnel will guard the conference. Police are deploying 10,854 personnel while the remainder come from the TNI and city administration.
All the participants will be heavily guarded right from the moment they land at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng or at Halim Perdanakusumah airport in East Jakarta.
Soekarno-Hatta airport will be guarded by 192 personnel while the Halim Perdanakusumah airport will be protected by 162 personnel.
The route from Soekarno-Hatta to the Hilton, and from Halim Perdanakusumah to the Hilton will be guarded by 206 and 356 personnel respectively.
Tjiptono said the police had identified at least six security threats during the conference, including terror and bomb attacks, food and electricity sabotage and street rallies.
"It is possible that the terrorists could launch more bomb attacks as we have not yet captured two of the masterminds, Azhari and Noordin Moh Top. That's why we have our bomb squad on alert to clear up any bomb threats," he said.
Azahari and Noordin, both Malaysian fugitives, were believed to have masterminded the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, the JW Marriott Hotel attack, which claimed 12 lives, and the recent bombing outside the Australian embassy.
Tjiptono said Jakarta would be on full alert from April 15 until the end of the summit.
Around 60 bomb squad personnel will guard the Hilton Hotel and Mulia Hotel, where different events are scheduled to take place, while the same number of security personnel would patrol perimeter areas.
He said that during the conference police would also increase security at certain embassy buildings, including the U.S., Japanese, Australian and Chinese Embassies.
Tjiptono said the Australian Embassy was now being guarded by 47 police personnel while the U.S Embassy was being protected by 18 personnel.
He added that analysis by police intelligence suggested that street rallies could pose a serious threat to the summit as several groups of people would try to internationalize local issues, including the fuel price increase and the Ambalat dispute.
"This is an opportunity for particular groups to raise their concerns with the international community. We have assigned experts on crowd control and negotiation so that we can contain and localize the effects of any rallies," said Tjiptono.