New police team to hunt fugitive Tommy
New police team to hunt fugitive Tommy
JAKARTA (JP): Police have gone back to square one in their
efforts to capture Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, forming a new
squad of specialists to replace the old team of top officers
searching for the fugitive.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Monday
the new team would comprise middle-ranking officers, the highest
ranking officer is an adjutant commissioner, who have special
skills in locating fugitives.
"Based on our evaluation and analysis last Friday, we have
decided to disband the old team and set up a new one in our
search for Tommy," Saleh said.
The new team, he said, will carry out its operation in
secrecy. Saleh refused to disclose the size of the new team or
identify its members.
National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Engkesman
Hilep, who coordinated the old team, was reappointed to the new
squad, according to Saleh.
"We hope that we can arrest Tommy soon," Saleh said.
National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro had promised to
arrest Tommy, who has been on the run since last November, by the
end of 2000.
Tommy was found guilty of graft in a 1995 land exchange deal
which caused the state Rp 76.7 billion (US$8.07 million) in
losses. He was sentenced by the Supreme Court last September to
18 months in prison.
In a bizarre chain of events, Tommy disappeared a day after
President Abdurrahman Wahid officially refused to grant his
request for a pardon on Nov. 2.
The police have come under fire for their failure to apprehend
one of the most recognizable men in the country. They established
a team, dubbed "the five generals team", to locate the fugitive.
Besides Engkesman, the team consisted of National Police
director of general crimes Brig. Gen. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo;
National Police director of drug investigations Brig. Gen. Timbul
Silaen; East Java Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Edi Darnadi; and
former Jakarta Police chief of detectives Brig. Gen. Gorries
Mere.
Sources said the team made contact with Tommy's family and
friends in an effort to convince Tommy to turn himself in.
The sources also said it was Edi Darnadi who informed the
President that Tommy was hiding out in an Islamic boarding school
in East Java last month before he managed to slip through the
police's fingers.
Saleh said the old team was dissolved because it prevented the
generals from carrying out their day-to-day duties while Tommy
remained free.
"Their main duties have been overlooked due to the search," he
said.
Police have searched for Tommy in dozens of houses in Jakarta,
Surakarta, Central Java, and East Java. They also drilled into an
underground bunker beneath Tommy's house on Jl. Cendana in
Central Jakarta.
Tommy's wife Ardhia Pramesti Regita "Tata" Cahyani and his
lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon were questioned last week for
allegedly hindering the police investigation. (jun)