Police accuse GAM over Medan bombing

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Police on Tuesday arrested six suspects they said were part of a network of Aceh separatists involved in an abortive attempt to bomb a mall here last month.

Officers were hunting down two more suspects believed to be the masterminds of the bombing attempt, police said.

Medan Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Maruli Siahaan said the arrests of the suspects would prove false allegations key Jamaah Islamiyah member Dr. Azhari was involved in the incident.

The six were arrested separately at various places in Medan this month, Maruli said. He was optimistic police would arrest the two masterminds of the operation soon.

The police for the first time paraded the six men in front of journalists.

They were identified as M. Nur alias Raju alias Bodrin, Ridwan, Frizal Wahyu, Charial Husen, Ismail and Syafrizal. All are suspected members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Raju, 27, an alleged bomb maker, confessed he had agreed to assemble the bomb because he was promised with millions of rupiah in a fee.

He had only received Rp 3.5 million (US$410) and was asked to get the remainder from another suspect, Syafrizal, he said.

"I assembled the bomb at the order of Wak Li (who is still at large). Materials for the bomb were given (to me) by Wak Li through his friend Bruju, from Aceh, but he did not say where he bought them from," Raju told The Jakarta Post.

He explained the bomb he assembled would have exploded within two hours after Frizal Wahyu had planted it in the mall.

"I was the one who set the timer. I was given the authority to do it. I was not ordered to detonate the bomb at a certain time," he said.

Raju said he learned to make bombs from his friend, known only as Asnawi, in 2000.

According to Raju, Asnawi offered to teach him how to make bombs because he said the skill was worth money.

The bomb was found by an employee of the Macan Yaohan mall. It was tied together with two detonators, nine batteries and a timer but failed to explode due to a low battery charge.

The police had earlier requested assistance from two members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the bomb. The FBI members' conclusion has not been made public.