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)