Bomb suspect denies links to GAM

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Syahrul, one of five suspects accused of planting a bomb in the Graha Cijantung mall in East Jakarta in which eight people were injured earlier this month, claims he has no links to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"I'm not a GAM member. I only know a little bit about Ramli (another suspect). He is a deserter from the Army," Syahrul told reporters before police questioning at the City Police's headquarters on Tuesday.

Syahrul and four other suspects, identified as Atom, Ahmad, Mudawali and Irsyadi, alias Bambang, were arrested by police last week.

Another man, Abdullah, who is Bambang's driver, is being questioned as a witness. All of the men are said to come from the restive province of Aceh.

Syahrul claimed he met Ramli five months ago at a meeting of Acehnese people living in Jakarta.

It was Ramli who asked him to keep the ammunition and firearms, he said.

Upon the arrest of the suspects at a rented house in Tapos village, Cimanggis Depok, police also found several grenades, homemade bombs, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, more than 160 magazines, several detonators, a pack of marijuana, Rp 50 million (US$5,555) in cash and some military-style uniforms.

Syahrul said he did not report the presence of the firearms and ammunition in his rented house to the police because he and his family had been threatened.

"I didn't report it for the sake of my children. Otherwise, I would be shot to death," said the thin and curly-haired suspect.

Bombarded with questions from reporters, Syahrul said that all of the firearms and ammunition came from the military.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu claimed the attack on Graha Cijantung, which is located close to the Army Special Force (Kopassus) headquarters on Jl. Raya Bogor, East Jakarta, was a ploy by an armed group which aimed to tarnish military personnel operating in conflict zones, including Papua, Maluku, and Aceh.

Ryamizard said that those groups operating in the conflict- ravaged regions had ammunition and guns.

"But, the important thing is that we have been informed about their networks in Jakarta," he said.

Commenting on the ammunition and firearms confiscated by the police, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam admitted the weapons and guns were similar to those made by state-owned weapons producer PT Pindad, in Bandung, West Java.

Anton said police planned to trace the origins of the weaponry.

"We will find out whether or not the ammunition was produced by Pindad and we want to know to whom the ammunition has been sold," Anton said.

"Police are still hunting down seven other suspects, Jalalluddin, Ramli, Zulkarnaen, Faisal, Bakrie, Jalil, and Fikri who are still at large," Anton said.

Police would also release a copy of Ramli's picture to the public, Anton said, adding that the police believed that Ramli was the mastermind of the bomb attack.

"It is Ramli who has contacted all the suspects for a briefing at a food stall to plot the attack," said Anton.

Ramli was also a suspect in the aborted bomb attack at Plaza Atrium in Senen, Central Jakarta. The explosion injured six people, including Taufik bin Abdullah Halim, a Malaysian who -- according to the police -- planted the bomb.

Police said that before the bomb attack the suspects met at a food stall behind Ramayana shopping center in Cibinong, Bogor at 2 p.m. Four hours later they departed for Graha Cijantung in a gray (Toyota) Kijang van to plant the bomb, which exploded at 7:20 p.m.

"That's what the suspects have admitted. We will continue to seek further details during the next questioning," Anton said.