Police arrest another Ramayana bombing suspect

JAKARTA (JP): City police have arrested an alleged accomplice in the January bombing of the Ramayana department store on Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta, an officer said on Wednesday.

"The suspect Mukri, alias Ruspandi, was arrested last week at his residence in Kramat Jati subdistrict, East Jakarta," city police detectives chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said.

Alex said Mukri was a friend of Satilan, one of the five defendants in the bombing case currently being tried at the Central Jakarta District Court.

"Mukri and Satilan went to Madura Island in East Java last December to procure three homemade bombs from Mardi, another defendant.

"They paid Rp 1 million (US$135) for the bombs," he said.

He said with the arrest of Mukri, the police still needed to locate and arrest five more suspects in the bombing. They were identified as Amir, alias Sangen, Dur Said, Saud, Mardi and Suan.

Police earlier arrested Rosalina Handayani, 50, president of a real estate company; Yan Pieterson Manusama, alias Pieter, 42, a youth organization activist; Sugiono and Sundah, both 29 and ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers; and Satilan, in connection with the case.

Mukri told police investigators Satilan came to his Kramat Jati home late last year and asked him to "burn" the Ramayana store. The two then met with Pieter and Amir.

Amir brought Satilan, Pieter and Mukri to his home in Kuningan, South Jakarta, where Sugiono, Mardi and Dur Said were already waiting for them. The seven discussed the bombing and later went to observe the site on Jl. Sabang.

Following that meeting, Mardi traveled to Madura to arrange the procurement of the bombs. Mukri and Satilan later went to the island to purchase the bombs. The three returned to Jakarta by train a week later with the explosives.

At 3 a.m. on Jan. 2, eight suspects -- Amir, Sundah, Mukri, Satilan, Saud, Mardi, Giyono and Dur Said -- traveled to Jl. Sabang to bomb the store. Satilan lit one of the bombs with a cigarette, but it did not explode. A second bomb did explode later. (ylt)