Man hijacks shuttle bus with fake bombs
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Apparently inspired by some twisted Hollywood action movie, an unemployed Indonesian, Eko Purwanto, hijacked a Damri shuttle bus heading to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from Rawamangun in East Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon.
Eko stood in front of the 21 passengers, holding what appeared to be three pipe bombs wired up to a cellular phone, as the bus passed kilometer 24 of the harbor toll road near Pluit, North Jakarta, at around 2:30 p.m.
He tried to rob the passengers asking them for their cell phones, wallets, jewelry and other belongings or he would detonate the "bomb". He even claimed he was the real bomber of the JW Marriott hotel in South Jakarta.
But bus driver Rianto managed to foil the robbery attempt by stopping the bus right next to a police patrol car parked on the side of the toll road and opened the rear door from a control near the driver's seat.
Passengers rushed out frantically from the bus while one of them tried to break the bus' window to escape what he believed would be an imminent explosion.
Four policemen in the car jumped into the bus and pointed their guns at Eko.
The policemen -- Second Adj. Insp. Suhada, Brig. Robin, Brig. Karnadi and Brig. Sabar -- kept their distance from the would-be phony pipe bomb robber, until he began screaming, "Don't shoot, it's not a real bomb!"
When they were assured that the bomb was just a ruse, they arrested him and took him down to Jakarta Police Headquarters for questioning.
"I have been out of work for three months. I have no money to pay my rent of Rp 300,000 (US$35)," Eko told reporters at the headquarters.
Eko spent Rp 10,000 to buy materials for the fake bombs at the Jatinegara market in East Jakarta. He rigged "the pipe bombs" with cables and a toy cell phone which was placed inside the pipes to give the impression that they were real bombs.
Police said that his motive was purely robbery.
Eko will be charged under Criminal Code articles 365 on robbery. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of nine years in prison.