Jakarta grenade suspect arrested in Maluku

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.