Police claim strong case on Bali blasts

Police claim strong case on Bali blasts

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The police have refuted public skepticism about their
investigation into the deadly Oct. 12 Bali blasts, saying they
have strong evidence, sufficient to take all suspects in the
incidents to court.

Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, spokesman for the joint inquiry
team, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the team, through
its careful detective work, had acquired the necessary evidence
to support the indictment against all the suspects, including
five others who are still at large.

"Despite the government regulation in lieu of law on terrorism
allowing the police to arrest suspects without preliminary
evidence, we arrested the suspects on the basis of evidence and
collected more after interrogating them.

"The formal evidence is based on witness accounts, while
material evidence comprises the relevant physical evidence. I
assure the public that the team currently possesses adequate
formal and material evidence," he said.

Aritonang gave the interview in response to media reports
criticizing the police for using only physical evidence as the
basis for determining which of the suspects committed the blasts
at Paddy's Cafe, Sari Club and Renon respectively.

There is no obligation on the police to present the physical
evidence to the public "but we have good reason not to disclose
it for the time being until the suspects stand trial," he said.

The investigators delayed on Thursday presentation of the
physical evidence before prosecutors as part of the preparation
of the suspects' dossiers.

"Investigators have collected a lot of evidence at the blast
sites. Besides, we also found more evidence when we visited the
locations where the suspects obtained the explosive materials,
assembled them and finally carried out the bombings," he said.

Asked on the type of explosives used in the powerful blasts in
Sari Club and Paddy's, Aritonang said the team had available
foreign experts to identify them, "and I don't have the
specialized knowledge to discuss the explosives in detail."

A reliable investigator, who wished to remain anonymous,
disclosed that collection of the physical evidence had become a
decisive factor in the progress the team had achieved in its
inquiries.

"At the initial stages of the investigation all we had was the
remains of the Mitsubishi L-300 minivan and a Yamaha F1-ZR
motorbike, tainted with explosive residue similar to that found
at the blast sites," the source said.

The investigators managed to identify the registration number
of the minivan used to transport the explosives to two buildings
in Kuta, identify the suspects and traced the suspects' hiding
places.

"In our preliminary interrogation, the main suspect, Amrozi,
repeatedly denied that he had been to Bali. We searched his house
and found a number of receipts for fuel purchases made at several
gas stations in Probolinggo, Banyuwangi and Denpasar. We
confronted him with the receipts, after which he had no choice
but to confess that he indeed had once traveled to Denpasar,"
said the source.

The source also stressed that besides the vehicle remains and
gas station receipts, the investigators also collected a variety
of other physical evidence, such as phone records and a receipt
for the purchase of a prepaid cellular phone card.

Meanwhile, Aritonang also said that the team had assigned at
least three investigators to prepare the legal dossiers on the
suspects. They were expected to begin their work on Friday.

Another development in the case was that Mukhlas, also known
as Ali Gufron, allegedly Jamaah Islamiyah's regional coordinator,
had formally appointed the Muslim Lawyers Team (TPM) as his legal
advisers. The TPM for Mukhlas would be led by Adnan Wirawan and
comprise thirteen lawyers.

"Mukhlas is in a good state. He asked us only to take his
children, who are currently staying with a friend in Klaten,
Central Java, to Solokuro, Tenggulun, Lamongan, East Java, where
they will be taken care of by his older brothers, Ustadz Khozin
and Ja'far Sodik," team member M. Sya'af said.

According to Sya'af, Mukhlas had two sons and three daughters
aged from five to eleven years. His wife Farida was still in
police custody.