Defendants 'unaware of bombs'

Defendants 'unaware of bombs'

JAKARTA: Three defendants accused of storing the explosives
used to build the car bomb in the Marriott Hotel bombing did not
know what the boxes contained, a witness said on Tuesday.

"They were also not informed about where the cartons were
taken to later," Muhammad Rais, 29, told the South Jakarta
District Court, AFP reported.

Rais was testifying in the case of Suprapto, Solihin, and Heru
Setianto. The three are accused of storing the chemicals at the
behest of another bomb suspect, Toni Togar, who will be tried
separately.

Rais is accused of helping ship the chemicals to the capital
and of recruiting the suicide bomber who drove the minivan packed
with the bomb to the luxury hotel in South Jakarta last August.
The bomb killed at least 12 people.

The trial was adjourned until April 1 to hear more witnesses.

On separate trial in Bengkulu last month, another bomb suspect
who faced a similar charge was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
-- JP