Jakarta grenade suspect arrested in Maluku

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police managed to arrest a suspect in last month's grenade attack near a U.S. Embassy residence on Jl. Teluk Betung, Central Jakarta, early on Thursday morning in Toleho, Seram island, Maluku.

"We've captured the suspect, named Muhammad Thayib, who has been at large following the grenade attack on Jl. Teluk Betung, thanks to the help of the Maluku Police," Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara told reporters on Friday.

Makbul said Thayib was apprehended after police detectives had been tracing the suspect's whereabouts for 20 days. Thayib was later sent to Jakarta.

Previously, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar had said the grenade was meant to be thrown at the unoccupied U.S. Embassy property, but later Makbul contradicted Da'i's statement, claiming that the motive behind the grenade attack was a loan dispute.

Police since then have been maintaining that the grenade, which exploded less than one kilometer from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and the residence of the U.S. Ambassador, was aimed at another house belong to a businessman named Juanda, but went off prematurely.

Meanwhile, the suspect Thayib appeared to confirm the police's version that the target of the attack was Juanda's house, not the U.S. property.

"The target was No. 7, not No. 8 (the U.S. property). And, it was all about a loan dispute," Thayib told journalists prior to police questioning on Friday.

Thayib is one of four assailants traveling in a Kijang van who allegedly planned to throw the grenade at one of the buildings on the street, but it prematurely exploded killing one of them, Abdul Azis Jenis, 30, and slightly injuring another, Yusuf, 28, the driver.

Thayib and Ali managed to flee from the scene using a passing bajaj (three-wheeled taxi), while Yusuf was captured by local residents.

Shortly after the blast, the police raided Yusuf's rented house in Gunung Putri, Bogor, near the southern outskirts of Jakarta, which was used as the assailants' hideout, and confiscated two tubes of TNT, 19 FN bullets, and one blank round.

Police also arrested two other suspects, Hani, 28, and Riyan, 23, who lived in a house near Yusuf's, but another suspect, Harun, managed to escape out the back door.