Police are still in the dark about bomb threat callers

Police are still in the dark about bomb threat callers

JAKARTA (JP): The city police are still in the dark as to the
identities and whereabouts of the mysterious callers in a series
of recent bomb threats to numerous public places in the capital,
police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman has said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Noegroho said his men had
already applied all standard procedures in pursuit of the
callers. Among other things they had made a thorough examination
of the sites in search of clues and had attempted to trace the
callers' telephone numbers.

"I've told all Jakarta police detectives to intensify their
work to arrest the bomb hoaxers," he said.

So far, the police have failed to come up with strong leads
which could help the officers to pinpoint the callers. The
identities of the callers' voices are still a mystery to the law
enforcement officers.

Noegroho also urged people not to worry unduly about such
threats delivered over the telephone.

Judging from recent experience in the capital, he said, such
threatening calls always turned to be hoaxes.

"If the culprits really want to blow up a building, they will
not let us know in advance," the two-star general said.

But, he added quickly, police have an obligation to comb a
site that has received such threatening calls and make a complete
check for any possible explosive devices.

More than a dozen shopping centers, office buildings and
hospitals in the city have received such unpleasant anonymous
messages, mostly from male callers.

Although all such calls have turned out to be hoaxes, the
threats have been more than enough to further unsettle the nerves
of many Jakartans.

Police have yet to come to any definite conclusion as to
whether or not the calls have emanated from the same person.

In the first month of this year alone, many important
buildings, such as the Wisma BNI tower and state-run Radio
Republik Indonesia (RRI) were targeted.

The two latest bomb threats were recorded at two different
times on Monday, at state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta and the privately-run Pondok
Indah General Hospital in South Jakarta.

As was reported earlier, the threat at RSCM, which was
received by its duty telephone operator at about 8:15 a.m., led
to the hasty evacuation of patients, the cancellation of
scheduled surgeries and the closing of public services.

The caller identified himself as one of former president
Soeharto's men. It is unclear why he had to make such a call to
the hospital, creating panic among patients and medical staff.

After three hours combing the area, the police bomb squad
declared the oldest hospital in the city safe and dismissed the
call as a hoax.

In the evening, the Pondok Indah hospital became the newest
target of bomb hoaxers.

According to Jakarta Police spokesman, Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis,
the mysterious caller rang an on-duty physician named Hasan Basri
at about 6 p.m. and informed the latter that a bomb planted in
one of the hospital wards would go off in 45 minutes.

"The man told Hasan to leave the hospital immediately," Lubis
quoted Hasan as saying.

There were no details on the situation as none of the medical
staff of the hospital, known as one of the most expensive in the
capital, could be reached for comment.

According to the police, this threat turned out to be a hoax
as members of the National Police Gegana bomb squad found nothing
after a search of the building lasting about two hours. (emf)