Amrozi not Bali bomb maker: Police

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The police are now hunting an Indonesian national named by Amrozi, the only detained suspect in the Bali bombing so far, as being the one who actually assembled the bomb.

Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika, who leads an international team of investigators, said Tuesday that Amrozi had denied assembling the bomb but provided detectives with the name of the man he claimed was responsible.

"Amrozi claims that he did not assemble the bomb but has given us the name of the person who did so," Pastika told journalists in Denpasar.

"We are now tracking down this person," Pastika said, refusing to be more specific.

Bomb experts had earlier said that the assembling of the Bali bomb would have required a high level of skills, and was unlikely to have been the work of a junior high school graduate such as Amrozi or his accomplices.

Pastika said that Amrozi, who has not been accompanied by a lawyer during interrogation so far, was an "important man" in a group of between five and 10 people responsible for the blasts that killed almost 200 people and injured 300 others, mostly foreigners.

The bomb, according to Pastika, consisted of three major parts -- a detonator that was filled with PETN, a main charge of some 100 kilograms of TNT, and the RDX that played a role as a booster in multiplying the explosive power of the bomb.

The police have also declared two of Amrozi's bothers, Ali Imron and Ali Fauzi, as suspects for illegal firearms possession.

Pastika said the police were searching for the two after finding a cache of firearms and ammunition in a forest near the bomb suspect's home village at Tenggulun in the East Java town of Lamongan.

"We will investigate their possible links with the bombing once they are captured," Pastika said.

"We have a witness who saw the two hurriedly transporting and later burying the firearms on the night of Nov. 7 in the Alas Dadapan forest, some 3.5 kilometers from Amrozi's house. So far, we have not found any concrete link between these weapons, Amrozi and the bombing," Pastika said.

Police found five rifles -- two M-16s, one AR-15 and two Lee Enfields -- two FN handguns and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition inside plastic pipes. The police claim they belong to Amrozi.

But the police could not determine who supplied him with the standard military issue firearms and ammunition, which were apparently produced by state arms manufacturer PT Pindad.

Pastika divided Amrozi's role in the bombing into three parts. "First, Amrozi was responsible for acquiring and preparing a Mitsubishi L-300 minivan for the bombing," he said, adding that the vehicle was filled with explosives for one of the bombs used in the attacks.

Second, Amrozi admitted buying various chemical compounds, including calcium chlorate and aluminum powder, both essential for making bombs, and third, the suspect told police investigators that he brought the minivan and the bomb-making materials to Bali.

Pastika said Amrozi arrived in Bali with the minivan on Oct. 5, seven days before the blast, and that some of his accomplices had already arrived in Bali a few days before him.

According to Pastika, the investigators have identified all of Amrozi's accomplices, most of whom are equipped with several aliases and who now stand accused of playing a role in the bombings. "But, we have yet to speak about the masterminds behind the bombing operation," he added.

Amrozi claimed he was not in Bali when the explosions occurred, saying that he had returned home to Lamongan on Oct. 10, the chief investigator said. "We will further clarify all his statements and admissions," he added.

The police said they had identified three out of at least four places in Bali that Amrozi visited in the days prior to the bombings. Those places were the Hotel Harum on Jl. Teuku Umar, a rented room on Jl. Gatot Subroto, and another rented room on Jl. Marlboro.

"In those places we found various chemical materials, including RDX, TNT, and PETN. These chemical compounds are similar to those that we found at the blast scene," Pastika claimed.

Pastika also said Amrozi and his colleagues held two or three meetings between late August and early September in the Central Java town of Surakarta to discuss their plans for the bombings.

Later, they also held similar meetings in Bali, he added without specifying dates.

"I stress that no meeting took place in Ngruki (in Solo), and according to Amrozi, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir did not attend any of these meetings," Pastika said.

Muslim cleric Ba'asyir is currently detained by police for his role in a string of church bombings in 2000 and a plot to assassinate President Soekarnoputri. Amrozi said on Monday that he was a student of Ba'asyir, the head of the Ngruki Islamic boarding school.