Bali, Makassar bombings closely linked: Police
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
The joint investigative team probing the Bali bombings has said that they were closely linked to the recent Makassar bombings as Suryadi, who supplied the police with information on the Makassar blast suspects, functioned as the courier to transport explosives to the team of Imam Samudra, a prime suspect in the Bali blasts.
The spokesman for the joint investigative team, Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, said that Suryadi, who was apprehended recently for a robbery in Manado, North Sulawesi, was still undergoing intensive police questioning in Jakarta and would be transferred to Makassar to undergo further questioning in connection with the Makassar blasts.
He implied that Suryadi would also likely undergo questioning in Bali as part of the investigation into the Legian blasts.
Aritonang did not give detailed information on either the time or place of Suryadi's arrest. He only said that currently Suryadi was in police custody at an unspecified location in Jakarta.
"He was arrested because we have information that he was connected to Imam Samudra," Aritonang said.
According to the police, Imam Samudra had assigned Suryadi to act as a courier to transport explosives to the targeted areas
Suryadi later confessed that he knew several persons suspected of bombing the McDonald's outlet and car showroom in Makassar, as well as their addresses.
"The Makassar bombing took place right on the day we finished questioning him. So team members immediately flew to Makassar with the list of those mentioned by Suryadi. That was why the police were able to identify the perpetrators of the Makassar bombings in a relatively short time," Aritonang said.
South Sulawesi Provincial Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said recently that the six suspects in the Makassar bombing were part of the network of terrorists who had claimed responsibility for the blasts in Bali on Oct 12 and a series of earlier blasts in Batam, Pekanbaru and Jakarta.
Separately, the joint investigative team leader, I Made Mangku Pastika, disclosed that Suryadi was also involved in a blast at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet in Makassar in 2001.
"The group that was responsible for the recent blasts in Makassar is the same group that bombed the KFC outlet," Pastika said.
Meanwhile, the police have also transferred Mukhlas alias Ali Gufron, the older brother of Amrozi, along with five other suspects who were arrested in Klaten, Central Java, recently, to Bali to crosscheck their statements with the other suspects, including Samudra and Amrozi.
The police are due to present physical evidence to prosecutors in the presence of the suspects and their lawyers.
"We will prepare the dossiers on the suspects complete with the physical evidence and coordinate with prosecutors before the dossiers are submitted to the prosecutor's office for further action," said Pastika.
He said he had strong evidence, including physical evidence and the suspects' confessions, for preparing the dossiers.
The police are still hunting five other suspects, including Dulmatin, who allegedly triggered the two bombs in Legian, Kuta, using a cellular phone.