Laskar Jihad link in Nganjuk blast negated
Laskar Jihad link in Nganjuk blast negated
SURABAYA (JP): A survivor and prime witness of Tuesday's car
blast in Nganjuk has denied any links with the Laskar Jihad Ahlus
Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Jihad Force) and said he thought he was only
transporting foodstuff.
Nasruddin Adi Sucipto, 19, -- one of the four passengers of a
Suzuki minivan which exploded while carrying a load of munitions
-- was arrested by local police at a relative's house in
Kedungrejo, Geneng district in Ngawi regency, on Thursday
morning.
Adi's brother-in-law, Rifzikka Helta, was the driver of the
van and died instantly in the blast which occurred in Nganjuk,
130 kilometers southwest of here.
According to Nganjuk Police chief Lt. Col. Nyoman Bratajaya,
during police questioning Adi rejected suggestions that he was a
member of Laskar Jihad.
"Adi even persisted that he had no idea the van was carrying
ammunition and grenades," Bratajaya said.
"Adi said his brother told him that the boxes contained snacks
and food and that Helta asked him to help sell it in Surabaya.
"Apart from that Adi said he used to sell perfume which was
bought in the Sunan Ampel area in Surabaya," Bratajaya told the
media on Friday.
The officer also revealed that Adi only admitted to being a
codriver in the van.
However, it was ascertained that Helta had previously spent
two weeks in Ambon.
"But Adi said that he had no knowledge of Helta's activities.
Adi is still in shock and suffering burn wounds in his right
thigh. He's being detained in Nganjuk," Bratajaya added.
Adi was sitting in the back of the van with another survivor,
Azmi Ishaq, 32, a student of the Al Ikhlas Pesantren (Islamic
boarding school) in Jember, East Java.
Azmi is in critical condition in hospital due to severe burns.
Besides Helta, the second passenger killed in the blast has
been identified as Wiji, a local from Jl. Magelang in Yogyakarta.
East Java Police detectives found pieces of a Belgian-made
grenade, a homemade bomb, hundreds of rounds of 5.56 millimeter
bullets for M-16 rifles and an assortment of bullets of various
calibers ranging from 6.3 mm to 9 mm in remnants of the
explosion.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that the munitions
were leftover from weapons smuggled through Tanjung Perak seaport
to Ambon.
Nganjuk Police also discovered several handwritten and printed
documents, one of which contains a call for people to join the
Jihad Force and raise funds for the jihad movement in Maluku.
In a related development, Yogyakarta Police also found sharp
weapons, boots, an iron pole and two kilograms of gunpowder in
Helta's rented house in Mulungan, Sleman, north of Yogyakarta,
Sleman Police chief Lt. Sumar said on Friday.
None of Helta's neighbors were willing to talk to the media.
They only said Helta was a good Muslim, was married to Siti
Juwarni, Adi's sister, and had two children.
Helta's family lawyer Iwan Satriawan, however, criticized the
police action, saying that Helta's alleged link to Laskar Jihad
is "baseless".
Later in the day, spokesman of Yogyakarta-based Laskar Jihad
Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Ayip Syafruddin denied the group's
involvement in the blast.
"None of the four victims (of the blast) were Laskar Jihad
members. The documents found by the police were public documents
which we issued as a call for a jihad and to collect funds. We
really hope for a fair investigation here," Ayip said.
(44/swa/nur/edt)