Fire guts Surabaya's high security prison

JAKARTA (JP): A high-security prison, packed with 610 inmates, in Surabaya's southern suburb of Sidoarjo caught fire late Wednesday and continued to burn until yesterday morning, police said.

Twenty-five staff of the Medaeng prison had been detained for questioning on how the fire started because arson was suspected, East Java police spokesman Lt. Col. Sofwat Hadi said.

"I assure you that none of the prisoners escaped. Hundreds of police special force personnel surrounded the prison as soon as the fire started," Safwat was quoted by Antara as saying.

Sofwat declined to say if there were any injuries in the fire, the first at the prison. But said the authorities had fired warning shots and tear gas to stop inmates fleeing.

He said the fire started at about 11 p.m. The extend of damage is yet to be estimated.

Among the 610 prisoners are three Democratic People's Party activists, Dita Indah Sari, Hohamad Soleh and Husein Coen Pontoh, who are doing time for subversion.

Meanwhile, police were keeping a close eye on the Surabaya office of the Nahdlatul Ulama -- the 30 million-strong Moslem organization headed by Abdurrahman Wahid -- after a caller threatened Wednesday to burn it down.

The office's secretary, Fuad Anwar, said yesterday the caller had identified himself as Ismail, a student of the well-known Moslem propagator Alawy Mohamad from Madura.

Ismail said he had been enraged by the office's statement that Alawy was not a Nahdlatul Ulama executive, Fuad said.

The dispute between the organization and the preacher became public at an election campaign rally last month when Alawy said that Nahdlatul Ulama's 1984 pledge to quit politics was wrong. (pan)