Police arrest another Ramayana bombing suspect

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)