A woman held for possessing bombs

JAKARTA (JP): Police detectives found three bombs at the Indonesia Miniature Park (TMII) recreation park in East Jakarta on Friday and arrested a woman allegedly linked to former president Soeharto's fugitive son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

The woman, identified as Elize Maria Tuwahatu, 31, was arrested at about 11 a.m. at the Yogyakarta hall when she was handing two plastic bags containing bombs to a man whom she had promised Rp 30 million for placing the explosives at certain designated locations.

City police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Harry Montolalu confirmed one of the bombs was homemade.

A police source said the bombs were set to explode three hours after their placement.

The bombs were immediately taken to the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police headquarters in Kelapa Dua in Depok.

In a search of Elize's house on Jl. Suwiryo No. 48 in the exclusive Menteng area, less than 200 meters from Soeharto's house, the police discovered a garbage can containing firecrackers which were covered by paper and two boxes.

Police found several pictures of Tommy and a number of crucifixes, indicating that the Ambon native is Christian.

Harry said that despite the woman's house being only walking distance away from Tommy's home on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, it was too early to say that she was in any way acquainted with Soeharto's youngest son, a billionaire who has been in hiding from the police since November last year.

"East Jakarta Police are also questioning Elize's mother, Sonya Tuwahatu, Elize's driver Hariman, and a woman named Lisa ... we still don't know how Lisa fits in. Elize, Sonya's only child, is the only suspect so far," Harry told reporters at Jakarta Police Headquarters on Friday evening.

Sonya runs a seafood restaurant named Elmo's Corner at the house.

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said on Friday that police would investigate every possibility, including Elize's alleged relationship with Tommy.

"I have not received any report on Elize. The evidence at her home (photographs of Tommy and namecard) will be thoroughly investigated, to check if she is really acquainted with Tommy or not," Mulyono told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Agus Irianto said that so far Elize is keeping quiet.

"So far, she has not owned up to having the intention of bombing any place in the capital or outside," Agus said.

Targets

According to sources at the East Jakarta Police, the bombs were meant to explode in three places in the capital on Friday.

"Those bombs were supposed to explode at three places, including the Attorney General's Office. Elize had called this man, whose name we can't tell, (to plant the bombs)," one of the sources told the Post.

"I can't tell you who informed us about this man ... but he went to meet the woman and make the deal. The meeting place was the Yogyakarta Hall in the recreation park."

Elize arrived at the recreation park on Friday in a Blue Bird taxi with registration number B 2784 CX and gate number B 1784. The taxi was confiscated as evidence.

The police source added that the man who was supposed to receive the money and bombs from Elize "got away".

When asked if he was the same man who had informed police about the meeting at the recreation park, the source refused to comment.

The park was built by Soeharto's late wife, and the former ruler still has a mansion there.

Elize's neighbors, including the neighborhood unit chief, Aida Mustafa, told reporters that Elize always introduced herself as Tommy's spiritual advisor.

"I knew her as a student of a private university located in Jakarta. But I don't know what she does for a living right now," said Aida.

Interrogating officers confirmed this, saying that Elize told them she was a spiritual advisor to Tommy. They added that when they asked Elize where she worked, Elize showed officers a name card, which stated her name and the name of a company which included the name "Mandala".

"Mandala" is normally used in names of companies owned by Tommy Soeharto.

Jakarta has been rocked by a series of bomb blasts in the past year, the latest of which took place on Christmas Eve. (02/ylt)