Govt employees flee in panic after bomb threat

JAKARTA (JP): More than 2,000 employees of the Ministry of Education and Culture fled the ministry's 20-story building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman in Central Jakarta in panic yesterday after two employees received a series of phoned-in bomb threats.

The mass of employees bursting out of the building caused a heavy traffic jam in front of the complex, witnesses said.

Some of the employees gathered in front of building E and observed officers from the police bomb disposal squad (Gegana) search for bombs in the area. But the squad, which arrived on the scene at about 1 p.m., did not find any bombs.

Building E contained offices for the Directorate General of Culture, Directorate General of Basic and Middle Level Education, Directorate General of Extracurricular Activities and Sports and the Research and Development Department of the Ministry, Budi Iswanto, an official from the ministry's public relations department, said.

Purnomo Sidi, a security guard at the building, said one of his friends received a phone call from an unidentified man at about 8 a.m. informing him that a bomb had been planted in the building.

"We just laughed and ignored the call," Purnomo said.

However, he said, an official on the 12th floor of the building, identified as Udin, received another threatening phone call at 11:50 a.m.

Udin then reported the calls to the security department of the building, Purnomo said.

About 20 minutes later, Udin received the same phone call, ordering that the building be vacated because a bomb had been planted, Purnomo said.

He said one of the security guards then reported the threats to South Jakarta Police precinct.

"Employees ran out of the building, even though we did not announce the threat. Their friends probably told them," Purnomo said.

Another official said it was the second bomb threat received by the ministry this week.

The first bomb threat took place at building A on Monday, causing dozens of employees to flee the premises, she said.

A similar bomb threat also took place at the Japanese Embassy yesterday, resulting in the evacuation of the embassy's complex, the Antara news agency reported.

The embassy received an anonymous phone call between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., saying that the building would be bombed.

A bomb squad declared the building safe after searching the complex, not finding any bombs.

Embassy activity returned to normal by 10 a.m.

In a related development, a private bank on Jl. Metro Pondok Indah, in South Jakarta, also received a bomb threat Tuesday night.

A police sergeant at the South Jakarta Police precinct said that a Citibank branch reported that it received a threatening phone call.

"We went to the bank and searched for a bomb, but found nothing," the sergeant said. (jun/hhr)