FPI attack foiled by phone stop

JAKARTA: A leader of the West Jakarta chapter of the Islam Defender Front (FPI) is being tried in the South Jakarta District Court on charges of illegal possession of weapons.

Prosecutor Nana Mulyana said on Monday that on June 25, Agus Maulana, 28, received a phone call from Dian at FPI headquarters who said that the house of Moslem preacher Chaidar in Tebet, South Jakarta, was attacked by a group of unknown people.

Agus and nine of his members then hired a Mikrolet minivan, leaving their office in Meruya Ilir for Tebet. They were armed with four machetes and an iron bar.

They stopped on Jl. Casablanca as one of them wanted to use the public phone to find information about the exact location of Chaidar's house.

Passing police officers from Tebet became suspicious and raided the minivan, finding the weapons.

Agus faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail if found guilty.--JP