Bomb hoax at Nusabank

JAKARTA (JP): A threatening phone call from an unidentified man led a bomb disposal squad to search the seven-floor Nusabank office building on Jl. Hasanuddin in South Jakarta yesterday morning.

After more than an hour of searching, the Jakarta Police team, consisting of six personnel equipped with bomb detectors, left the building and gave a hand sign that there was no bomb.

A similar case happened at the 32-floor Jakarta Stock Exchange building on Jl. Sudirman on June 24.

According to witnesses at the Nusabank building yesterday, the phone call, sent to advertising company PT Citra Lintas on the fifth floor, was received by the firm's receptionist, Ella, 22, at 9:50 a.m.

Ella said that the voice planned to explode the bomb in her office in the next one hour.

She then reported the threat, saying it came from a man with an angry voice. The head of the security immediately informed the nearby Taman Puring police subprecinct.

While waiting for the police, the building's management publicized the bomb threat and then with the police's help, evacuated more than 100 workers from the 17 offices in the building.

"Thank God there was no bomb," a female worker said. "Think what would have happened if there had been one and it had exploded," she said. (bsr)