Officers told not to overreact

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said yesterday that nothing serious was behind recent bomb threats, which he said were made by pranksters.

He said that police had yet to find any indications that the threats were intended to terrorize city residents.

"So I hope that security officers will not overreact in facing the security situation in the city," he told reporters after the roll call of the security force for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting.

ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam.

Hamami, who is the deputy chief of the security force for the ASEAN meeting, said he did not link the bomb threats with the ministerial meeting.

Some 2,500 officers will be deployed at several places to secure the meeting, which will be held from July 20 to July 25 at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center.

Hamami said yesterday that police officers had found nothing suspicious in the places where the bombs were claimed to have been planted.

On Thursday, a bomb disposal squad searched the seven-floor Nusabank office building on Jl. Hasanudin, South Jakarta following a threatening phone call from an unidentified man received by an official at the building.

A similar case occurred at the 32-floor Jakarta Stock Exchange building on Jl. Jendral Sudirman in Central Jakarta on June 24.

Police have found nothing suspicious in the two buildings. (jun)