Latest bomb hoaxes at bank building and bus terminal

JAKARTA (JP): Fresh bomb hoaxes continued to hit the city yesterday, keeping police busy sweeping a number of places where bombs were reportedly planted.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said a few places in South Jakarta were swept for bombs after threatening phone calls were received by the Danamon Aetna building on Jl. Sudirman and the Lebak Bulus bus terminal.

"We checked the places and found nothing there," said Aritonang.

A security officer at the Danamon building reportedly received the first threatening phone call late Monday but only reported it to the police after receiving a second bomb threat from an anonymous caller.

Aritonang said the bomb squad searched the building thoroughly but found nothing.

The bomb threat in the Lebak Bulus bus terminal was received yesterday morning, but the bomb squad, which swept the bus terminal, found nothing. The squad reportedly searched a nearby soccer field in the afternoon.

There were other places, including a Pasaraya mall, where bombs were said to have been planted. But Aritonang refused to comment, saying his office only received reports on Danamon and Lebak Bulus.

Aritonang said his office had intensified surveillance of people who were believed to be involved in making such calls.

"We've been spying on certain places in an attempt to find these irresponsible people," he said.

He said his office had also intensified its cooperation with the state-owned telecommunications company to trace the origin of the calls.

"Tracing the numbers is not difficult. But finding the people who make such calls is not easy, because they might use public phones and leave the places afterward to avoid being caught by officers," he said.

He denied that the police had not given their utmost in handling the matter, saying some officers had been deployed to search for information in areas outside Jakarta.

"We've even sent our officers to West, Central and East Java," said the spokesman.

He said that so far no one had been apprehended, but security in the city had been intensified.

"We've been doing routine patrols day and night. We've also placed several mobile stations at strategic or crowded areas," said Aritonang.

He said the mobile stations were parked in Menteng and Salemba in Central Jakarta and Rawamangun in East Jakarta.

He urged whoever was terrorizing the public with their threatening phone calls to office buildings or public facilities to stop their irresponsible acts.

He lambasted the callers, saying such actions produced nothing but anxiety to the public.

"The people who like to have fun by calling others about a bomb set to explode at certain places must immediately stop their actions," he said. (cst)