Medan bombing suspects to face trial

Apriadi Gunawan and Ruslan Sangadji, Medan/Palu

Eight suspects in the January bombing incident in Medan, North Sumatra, are expected to stand trial soon as police handed over their case files to prosecutors on Monday.

The dossiers stated that the suspects -- Marzuki, Anwaruddin, Syaifullah, Didin, Abdul Somad, Tengku Usman, Ridwan Botak and Atekri -- were allegedly members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the Medan-Deli area.

The case files were presented by Medan police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Maruli Siahaan to Medan Prosecutor's Office head of general crimes L. Tambunan.

Maruli told journalists that the dossiers contained evidence on involvement of the eight suspects in the terror and that the police also provided material evidence against them, such as timers, pipes and wreckage of the exploded bomb.

Also handed over to the prosecutors were all eight suspects, including Marzuki accused of masterminding the terror attacks.

The suspects were charged with a bomb blast at the Amplas bus terminal on Jan. 5, and a bombing attempt in the Sukaramai traditional market one day later. No casualties were reported in the two incidents.

The motive behind the blast was merely to create a disturbance among local residents, police claimed.

The homemade bomb planted at Sukaramai market did not explode as it had been found by a vendor and was later defused by a police bomb squad.

Lambunan, speaking after receiving the dossiers, promised to present them to court soon after prosecutors studied whether the case files were complete or not.

"We will immediately hand over the dossiers to court if they are declared complete. Therefore, we need time to scrutinize them," he said.

Separately in Central Sulawesi, hundreds of bullets found in a storage shed at the home of National Mandate Party leader Luky Lasahido for Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, were apparently linked to a suspect, Madong, who was shot dead by police.

Luky's lawyer Ermas Cintawan claimed on Monday that the 300 rounds of ammunition belonged to Madong, who was blamed for the Oct. 10, 2003 armed attack on Beteleme village in neighboring Marowali regency, in which three people were gunned down at random in the Christian village.

Ermas said seven sacks of sulfur, a component of some bombs, which were also seized from Luky's shed belonged to an accomplice of the local PAN leader, identified as Rafik.

A joint police and military force, which searched Luky's house on Jl. Monginsidi in Bonesompe neighborhood, downtown Poso, for sharp weapons, also found firearms and traditional weapons.

However, Luky denied any knowledge of the weapons and claimed he had no idea how they had been stored at his house, although he named Rafik as the owner of the sulfur.

Rafik was reportedly an accomplice of Madong. The latter was shot dead in a shootout with police.

Both Luky and Rafik were transferred to the Central Sulawesi police headquarters on Saturday from the Poso police station for further investigations and formally declared suspects.