Bali blast suspects named in RP envoy's residence attack
Bali blast suspects named in RP envoy's residence attack
Damar Harsanto and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
A preliminary investigation has provided police with the names of
nine suspects in the Aug. 1, 2000 fatal blast at the Philippine
ambassador's residence, which claimed the lives of two people and
injured 20 others.
The police also discovered that several of the suspects were
also allegedly involved in the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali blasts that
killed at least 202 people and injured more than 325 others.
National Police chief spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said
that the bombing was an act of revenge over the Philippine
government's attack on Muslim separatist groups in the southern
Philippines.
"The nine suspects include several of the Bali bomb blast
suspects," he said, adding that Hambali, Amrozi, Mubarok and
Dulmatin, who are still at large, were among the suspects in the
Bali blasts.
He said that several of the suspects were also allegedly
involved in a series of bombings, including the 2001 Christmas
Eve blasts and those at the Atrium shopping mall and Jakarta
Stock Exchange building.
Prasetya said the police would conduct another investigation
into the blasts to bring all the suspects to justice.
Gen. Comr. Erwin Mappaseng, the chief of detectives at the
National Police Headquarters, said the police conducted the
preliminary investigation after Abdul Djabar, who surrendered to
police in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, confessed that he was
involved in the bombing of Philippine Ambassador Leonids Caday's
residence on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.
He said the suspect admitted to playing a role as the executor
of the blast along with Faturrahman Al-Ghozi, who is serving a
12-year jail sentence in a Philippine prison for possessing one
ton of explosives.
He said the police had learned from Faturrahman in the
Philippines that he, along with Abdul Djabar, detonated the car
bomb with a remote control.
Police believe that Hambali was the mastermind behind the
bombing and that he allegedly financed it.
Hamali, who is allegedly the chairman of the Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI) network in Southeast Asia, is also wanted in Singapore and
the Philippines.
"According to Djabar's confession, the car bomb exploded
within the embassy's compound and was assembled by Amrozi and
Dulmatin, two suspects in the Bali blasts," he said, adding that
the four were from two different cells of terrorist networks in
the country because they did not know one another.
Erwin said that Amrozi, the first man arrested after the Bali
bombings, bought explosive material and a car and helped assemble
the bomb.
Just like in the Bali bombings, Amrozi allegedly bought the
material in a chemical store in Surabaya. He later brought it to
Cirebon, where he, Dulmatin and Sawad, another suspect who is
currently at large, assembled the bomb, he said.
Suspect Farihin Ibnu Ahmad, who has been arrested for the Palu
bombing, took the bomb to Jakarta, he said. Suspect Edi Setiono,
alias Abas, allegedly surveyed the location and drove the car to
the ambassador's residence.
Setiono is currently serving a life sentence for the bombing
of the Atrium shopping mall.
Nine suspects in the blast at the ambassador's residence:
Hambali alias Riduan Isamuddin (still at large), Amrozi (in
police custody), Hutomo Pamungkas alias Mubarok (in police
custody), Farihin Ibnu Ahmad alias Yasir (in police custody),
Fathurrahman Al-Ghozi alias Mike alias Randy, (jailed in the
Philippines), Dulmatin (still at large), Sawad alias Sarjio
(still at large), Edi Setiono alias Abas (jailed in Jakarta),
Abdul Jabar (in police custody).