Malaysian embassy on alert after threat
Malaysian embassy on alert after threat
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Police increased security around the Malaysian Embassy on
Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta after an unidentified caller
threatened late on Monday to blow up the embassy.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana
said on Tuesday addition officers had been deployed to guard the
embassy.
He said officers from the Jakarta Police antiterror unit were
working to identify the caller based on telephone records.
The police said they would seek assistance from communications
experts and mobile phone system providers to trace the caller.
A security guard at the embassy, Agus Setiawan, 33, received a
telephone call from a an unidentified man at 9 p.m. on Monday.
The caller said he had placed bombs in the embassy and that they
were set to go off at 1 a.m.
The man reportedly called the embassy five times and made the
same threat before guards contacted the police.
At about 10 p.m., the bomb squad arrived to search the
embassy. The embassy was declared safe at about 12 a.m.
Ketut said police were attempting to discover a motive for the
threat against the Malaysian Embassy.
"The caller probably just wanted to take advantage of our
current focus on bomb threats. However, we will investigate the
hoax because we do not want to take the risk that the caller
might actually have been a member of a terrorist group," he said.
Indonesia has been on full alert since the Oct. 1 suicide
bombings that destroyed two cafes and a restaurant in Jimbaran
and Kuta in Bali, killing 22 people and injuring more than 130.
Several days before the Idul Fitri holiday, the police's
special antiterror unit, Detachment 88, received information
indicating the possibility of bombing during the holiday.
Authorities said recently they had stepped up security after
Omar al-Farouq, an alleged lieutenant to Osama bin Laden and
leader of the al-Qaeda terror network in Southeast Asia region,
escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in July, and after the
Australian government warned of more bombings in Indonesia before
the end of the year.
According to the police, bomb threats are made daily via
telephone calls and text messages (SMS) against office buildings,
malls and hotels in Jakarta.
Police, however, have only been able to trace one SMS sender
so far this year.
In response, the government announced recently it would
require all mobile phone owners with prepaid accounts to
register, and for all sellers of mobile phone numbers to record
the identities of buyers.