Dharmala building target of bomb hoax

JAKARTA (JP): A bomb threat prompted the evacuation of 2,000 office workers from Wisma Dharmala Sakti building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, South Jakarta yesterday.

A phone call was received at 9 a.m. from an unidentified man who threatened to blow up the building, Esther Ida Yuniarsih, a public relations officer of PT Dharmala Intiland, the building owner, said.

Esther said the employee who received the phone call immediately reported it to center management, which later instructed all workers to leave the building.

"We often hold fire drills. So it (the evacuation) was routine for us."

She said the building received two or three bomb threats last year but all turned out to be hoaxes.

The police bomb squad (Gegana) arrived at the scene at 1:30 p.m. and combed the 24-story building for almost three hours. The officers found nothing suspicious.

There have been a series of bomb hoaxes over the past two weeks at several places, including Mal Pondok Indah shopping center, Lebak Bulus Bus Terminal in South Jakarta and Bank Danamon building and BSG building in Central Jakarta. (jun)