Police acknowledge difficulties in investigating Pamulang bombing

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police said on Monday a lack of evidence was hampering their investigation into a bombing on June 8 in Pamulang, Tangerang, near the house of a Muslim cleric.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said officers were having trouble tracing the source of the explosives used in the bombing, and the license plate number of the motorcycle that was ridden by two people believed to have thrown the low-explosive bomb.

Police have questioned 11 witnesses in the case, including a security guard and a neighbor, Firman said.

He said questioning witnesses was all the police could do because there was no way to trace the bomb, which was made from potassium chlorate, the same material used in firecrackers.

"Anybody can make a low-explosive device because it is easy to buy the material," Firman said.

Many households in Bekasi, Tambun, Sawangan and Tangerang produce firecrackers, especially before and during Ramadhan, the Muslim fasting month.

A small explosion occurred early on the morning of June 8 in front of a house rented by Muslim preacher Mohammad Iqbal, or Abu Jibril, 47, in Pamulang, Tangerang, which borders Jakarta. The explosion occurred after weeks of bomb threats in the capital.

No one was injured in the blast.

There has been speculation that the explosion was an attempt to link Jibril to a bombing case after he got off with a light punishment for an immigration offense last year, following his deportation from Malaysia. Jibril was deported over suspected ties to the regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah, which is accused of masterminding several bombings in Indonesia.

After the bombing on June 8, officers took away several items from Jibril's house, including a laptop computer, dozens of VCDs and a video camera, before returning the items hours later.