Police expand probe, ransack suspects' houses
Police expand probe, ransack suspects' houses
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar/Jakarta
Following the arrest of the alleged principal planner of the Bali
bombing, Imam Samudra, alias Abdul Azis, police investigators
scoured on Sunday several houses where Samudra and his
accomplices might have been stayed in Serang, West Java, and
Sukohardjo, Central Java.
Nothing significant was found in Serang, but in Sukohardjo
police found M-16 and AK-47 magazines and a number of video
compact discs (VCDs) and books about terrorism and militant
Islam.
In Sukohardjo, police searched four houses allegedly rented by
the suspected perpetrators of the deadly Bali bomb blasts, namely
Imam Samudra, Dulmatin, alias Joko Pitoyo, Abdul Ghoni and
Hardianto.
The four houses are located in Pesanggrahan village, Grogol
district, Sukohardjo, some three kilometers from the Al-Mukmin
Ngruki Islamic boarding school led by Muslim cleric Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, who is being detained for his alleged role in the 2000
church bombings and a plot to assassinate President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
During the four-hour search, police scoured a house previously
occupied by Abdul Ghoni, where they discovered eight M-16 rifle
magazines and four AK-47 magazines, and one kilogram of urea
fertilizer and brickstone powder.
"All were kept in the attic of the house," Central Java Police
chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Rusbagyo was quoted by Antara as
saying.
Police then searched Dulmatin's rented house, but no evidence
was found. Dulmatin and Abdul Ghoni left the houses on Nov. 9 and
Nov. 12, respectively.
Police also searched a house belonging to Enianto, who helped
Samudra find a house in the village. The house was empty on
Sunday, except for a picture of Enianto hanging on the wall with
the statement: "Jihad is my way of life."
The last house police visited was rented by Imam Samudra. It
is owned by local resident Purwadi.
"In the house police found a video compact disc of a speech
given by Osama bin Laden," said Rusbagyo.
A day after he was captured, Imam said he carried out the
attack in Bali to avenge the injustices suffered by Muslims
around the world.
Imam left his rented house on Oct. 8, four days before the
Bali bomb blasts that killed almost 200 people.
Police also said they seized a number of other VCDs and books,
but they did not go into detail about in which houses the items
were found.
The evidence included VCDs with the titles Three Solutions for
Muslim Problems and Five Solutions to Overcome Terrorist U.S, and
a number of books about jihad.
In Serang, officers from the Indonesian Police and Australian
Federal Police searched two houses that were rented by Abdul
Rauf, alias Syam, and Wahyudi, alias Andre Octavia.
Syam and Wahyudi are alleged to have done surveillance work
for the Bali attack.
No evidence was found in either house, though police did
seize a motorcycle believed to belong to Wahyudi.
Besides these two houses, the joint investigative team also
went through a house belonging to the family of Iqbal, who
allegedly carried out the suicide bombing in Paddy's Cafe.
The police searched the house, located in Malimping, Serang,
in order to secure evidence for DNA testing, including hair
samples.
The tests will be carried out to confirm whether Iqbal was at
Paddy's when the bombing occurred.
In Bali, Amrozi, one of the key suspects in the attack, found
himself facing new criminal charges.
Amrozi had already been charged with committing an act of
terrorism, and on Sunday the police added an illegal firearms
possession charge.
The police found a cache of assorted weapons and more than
5,000 bullets in the suspect's village in Lamongan, East Java.
However, through his lawyer Muhammad Sya'af, Amrozi denied the
charge, saying he only owned an air rifle for hunting birds.
Sya'af also said the National Police might confront Amrozi
with Samudra to shed new light on the case, maybe at the end of
November.