Osama shirts shelved as antiterror efforts upped

Osama shirts shelved as antiterror efforts upped

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Shirts carrying the face of Osama bin Laden, have disappeared
from markets in the Indonesian garment-producing city of Bandung
as the country steps up its anti-terror efforts, a report said on
Monday.

The t-shirts had been a popular item in Indonesia, world's
largest Muslim-populated nation, along with those featuring
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

"I am scared now to produce Osama's picture (on t-shirts) or
sell them on sidewalks ... they can become a problem because I
could then be suspected of things," vendor Ate, 34, told the
state Antara news agency.

Ate, who operates in the Tegallega area of Bandung -- a
textile and garment producing center in West Java -- said that he
was worried the t-shirt would incur the wrath of authorities.

But he said he still felt "secure" selling Saddam t-shirts.

Billy, a t-shirt producer, told Antara he was now afraid to
make the bin Laden shirts

"The faces of known figures are hard sellers but now we are
thinking twice about (reproducing) Osama's picture, because we
fear something may happen," he said without elaborating.

The Indonesian government has vowed to step up its battle
against terrorists who it has blames for a series of bombings in
the past years, including in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002 and in Jakarta
on Aug. 5.

A total of 202 people were killed in the Bali blast while in
Jakarta the bombing of a U.S.-run hotel left 12 people killed and
more than 140 injured.

Police have indicated that the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist network may be behind the
bombings.