Police detectives have yet to identify bomb hoaxers

JAKARTA (JP): Police detectives are still in the dark over the identity of persons responsible for a series of bomb hoaxes which disrupted the capital following the large explosion in front of the residence of Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Leonides T. Caday early this month.

Sr. Supt. Salef Saaf of the National Police Information Department said on Friday that the police found it difficult to identify the callers responsible for the bomb hoaxes as they had used public telephone booths to make the calls.

"We have enlisted the cooperation of state-owned telecommunication company PT Telkom to trace the location of the callers.

"We found out that the callers used public telephones, which were located near the buildings that were the targets of the bomb threats," Salef told reporters at his office.

The officer said the police had yet to learn why they had used public telephones that were close to their targets.

"Those irresponsible people might have intended to see how the public would respond to the bomb threats.

He said some of the public telephones used by the callers were located in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

A strong bomb of C4 type exploded in front of the Philippine Ambassador's residence on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central Jakarta on August 1. The blast killed two people and injured 21 others, including the Ambassador.

Earlier in July, a bomb exploded at a building within the compound of the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta. No one was injured in that explosion.

Soon after the Aug. 1 blast, a total of some 40 bomb threats were reported, including one at Menteng Prada Apartment in the choice Menteng area last week. Another threat was delivered to the Central Bank (BI) in Central Jakarta last week.

Saleh said the police and PT Telcom had conducted simple technological research to locate the public phone booths.

He admitted that the police had yet to identify the callers, who had disrupted the city.

"There were too many fingerprints found on the phones for the police to investigate the callers," he said.

Saleh suggested tips for people to deal with such bomb threats.

"People shouldn't panic. They should stall the callers to detect their accent and the surrounding environment where the callers make the calls," he said.

He said the people should also try to get information from the callers on the precise location where the bomb was planted and also the type of bomb.

"It will help the police bomb squad, Gegana, to deal with the bomb," he said, adding that people should contact local police precincts if they received bomb threats.

He said people must not worry over the dozens of recent threats, since none of the hoaxes were true. (asa)