Impersonator of bomb squad officer sought

Impersonator of bomb squad officer sought

JAKARTA (JP): Police are searching for a man who impersonated
an officer from the bomb squad and asked for money from the
management of an office building in South Jakarta.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday
that the man had created a phony letter and pretended his unit
had been assigned to temporarily guard the building.

"The man has ruined the police's image because we never charge
the management or owners of buildings rocked recently by false
bomb threats," he said.

Many buildings received threatening phone calls informing the
occupants that bombs had been planted. After the bomb squad
looked into the claims all turned out to be hoaxes.

Aritonang said it was the first time his office had received a
report from building management about a bomb squad officer saying
he was assigned to secure a venue and asking for money.

He said the building management of the South Jakarta office
building reported Tuesday that they were visited by a man who
claimed to be a member of the bomb squad unit.

The management later reported the incident to police to check
whether the assignment was genuine, he said.

Aritonang said the letter of appointment was fake.

"This mischievous person is unbelievable. He apparently
doesn't understand a thing about police matters because he used
the wrong symbol and gave the wrong rank for the names he used in
the letter."

The suspect had used the National Police Headquarters' symbol
on the letterhead but typed Jakarta Police Headquarters' address
underneath, he said.

The fake letter was signed by the commander of a fictitious
bomb squad, Lt. Col. Nurhadi. Both the squad and the commander do
not exist, the spokesman said.

Aritonang said the bomb squad worked on an on-call basis.

"Please note that the bomb squad is deployed to search a
building only if we receive a report from the management or
another party about a bomb threat."

He said his office deployed a different police squad to guard
some office buildings, like banks, especially at a time when
there were many bomb threats and rumors of riots were spreading.

According to the management, the suspect, who wore civilian
clothes and talked and behaved like a police officer, had not
returned after his Tuesday visit was politely turned down,
Aritonang said.

He strongly rejected an allegation that such soft acts of
extortion were often committed by members of the bomb squad, who
were kept busy handling dozens of bomb hoaxes a couple of weeks
ago.

"The allegation that the calls were plotted by the squad
itself to enable it to search for the fictitious bombs and later
ask for 'exertion money' from the building's management, was made
by certain people who wanted to disgrace the police." (cst)