Forensic police to infiltrate Tommy's 'bunker'

JAKARTA (JP): With the slim chance that they might find former president Soeharto's fugitive son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman announced on Friday that the police would break into an alleged "bunker" under his house on Sunday.

He said that geo-radar signals identified an underground bunker below the Central Jakarta residence of Tommy.

"One huge air pocket was found... under Tommy's house on Jl. Cendana No. 12 in Menteng. We'll get to it on Sunday. Up till now though, we still haven't found the door," Mulyono told a media conference at the city police headquarters.

However, a senior officer of the National Police Forensic Laboratory (Puslabfor) said that geo-radar signals had picked up three underground bunkers instead of one, below Tommy's residence, and that the "break-ins" into the bunkers were scheduled for Saturday, not Sunday.

"Three gigantic air holes... some eight-meters deep, five- meters wide and six-meter long, were detected by our geo-radar detectors. They were detected under Tommy's residence, on Jl. Cendana No. 12," the officer, who requested anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.

"The holes seem to be interconnected by some sort of broken road. Puslabfor is scheduled to force its way into these holes on Saturday."

The Soeharto family, comprising the elder Soeharto and his six children, have interconnecting houses in the capital's posh central suburb of Menteng.

The National Police has simultaneously raided scores of places in big cities nationwide in search of the fugitive during the past few days, but have failed to locate him.

"For that (failure), I sincerely apologize to the general public. Believe me, our expectation to capture that man is greater than the public's," Mulyono told reporters.

Tommy, a 38-year-old businessman, has eluded arrest by police for more than two months, probably hiding out in one of the bunkers. The billionaire businessman has been on the run since early November, when President Abdurrahman Wahid rejected his appeal for a pardon of a corruption conviction.

Like Mulyono, city police chief of detectives High Comr. Harry Montolalu told reporters that the police would get into the bunkers on Sunday.

President Abdurrahman Wahid recently claimed that Tommy had slipped through the fingers of police in a "small East Java town" a few weeks ago.

National Police Chief Gen. Bimantoro, however, officially denied the claim on New Year's Eve, saying that no such arrest was ever made.

Speaking on Dec. 29 last year in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, Abdurrahman claimed that Tommy, after being caught, demanded to meet the President and indicated he had incriminating information on tape, prompting the nervous policeman to telephone the President.

"I said, there is no such tape. Just arrest him. But when the police returned for Tommy, he was already gone," Abdurrahman said.

But, he added: "We know where he is. When the time is right, he will be arrested."

Before disappearing, Tommy met Abdurrahman at a hotel in Central Jakarta, triggering speculation that he had tried to strike a deal to avoid serving time behind bars.

Abdurrahman, who has admitted meeting Tommy, has denied any agreement was struck. (ylt)