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.