Police detectives have yet to identify bomb hoaxers

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)