Australian IT experts help in bomb case

Australian IT experts help in bomb case

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police have started to work hand-in-hand with experts
on information technology from Australia to find out more on the
links and sources of funding of the Cimanggis bombing group.

"The experts have just arrived; we started by opening some
files on the notebook computer today," city police spokesman Sr.
Comr. Prasetyo said on Monday.

He said that since the police seized the computer from the
explosion site in Cimanggis, Depok, on March 21, they had yet to
be able to open a single file on the computer as they were all
protected. Therefore, he added, the police were in dire need of
external assistance.

Police from Indonesia and Australia have been working closely
together since the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, which claimed
more than 200 lives, mostly those of Australian tourists.

The computer was seized as it belonged to Oman Rahman, a key
suspect in the explosion that took place during a bomb-making
training session.

Oman was strongly suspected as the organizer of the training,
which had already taken place three times: twice in Cimanggis and
once in Cijantung, East Jakarta. He had also written a letter to
members of his family to avoid public places and not to vote.

The police also announced that they have released six people
who have been interrogated intensively since their arrest on
March 21. Thus far, the police have named nine people as suspects
in the explosion.

The suspects -- Oman, Ferdiansyah, Syarif Hidayat, Agus
Kusnianto, Kamaluddin, Septiono H. Widiantono, Ubaedah, Inggrid
and Syamsu M. Arif -- have been accused of violating Article 9 of
Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism. The article stipulates that anybody
found guilty of the illegal possession of explosive materials may
face the death penalty.