Police identify wanted suspect in Matori attack

JAKARTA (JP): Police are getting closer to locating the missing crucial suspect behind Sunday morning's attack on National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Matori Abdul Djalil, an officer said on Monday.

South Jakarta Police chief Col. Nono Suprijono said the police's investigation had identified a man, named only as Ikhsan, who held the key to solving this case.

"If we find this man... that's it," Nono told reporters, but did not elaborate.

"We have not made the arrest as yet. Once we make the arrest, we will let the information out," he said.

A source at South Jakarta Police hinted the Matori attack was not the missing suspect's first crime.

"He committed something controversial last year as well," the source said, also refusing to elaborate.

Nono said the National Police, the Jakarta Police and the South Jakarta Police had sent out six teams of police detectives to comb the capital and locate the suspect.

Four teams had been assigned main tasks, Nono said. One of them will try to locate the current owner of the black Yamaha RX- King motorcycle, license number B 5013 PZ.

The motorcycle was used by the two suspects, one of whom was mobbed to death by angry residents and ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers for not paying an ojek driver for a ride, some 10 meters from Jagakarsa Economic College on Jl. TB Simatupang.

Nono confirmed that the motorcycle was registered under the name of a man, identified as Arjun.

"Arjun sold the motorcycle to a man called Hok Lim. The detectives found this man, who later said that this motorcycle was sold to another man, Ching Hui," Nono said.

"We found Ching Hui. He said he sold it to a man named Ikhsan. We hope to find this Ikhsan soon."

He said the second detectives team would try and locate the owner of the FN-46 gun, a Remington USA type with serial number 1585794, and bullets.

The third team will try to locate the machete, which was used to strike the back of Matori's head and his right arm at his home on Jl. Elang Mas II, Block C No. 12, in the Tanjung Mas Raya housing complex, by a man pretending to be an interior design salesman. The whereabouts of the machete are still unknown.

The fourth has been tasked to find the owners of two pagers, a Starko and a Global brand, found at the scene of the mobbing near Jagakarsa Economic College, Nono said.

Nono said that detectives had contacted Starko and found out that the owner of the pager, using ID 1033, was a man identified as Windu.

"Messages found on this pager were sent by five men, identified as Tarmo, Parmo, Sabar, Zulfikar and Budi, whom we have yet to find," Nono said.

A source at South Jakarta Police said some of the messages read: "Gus Dur tidak ada (Gus Dur isn't there); "PDIP .... " (The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ... ); and "Favorit Belanda" (Favorite of the Netherlands)."

Another message read something like: " Motorcycle transaction, March 3, 9 a.m., about Rp 2.5 million (US$340)."

Heri, a witness who found the beeper, an FN bullet and magazine in front of his small groceries stall opposite Jagakarsa Economic College, told reporters that 15 minutes after the incident, he had received an anonymous call.

"A man called me up at the stall and said he saw me picking up a pager, and asked me to keep it for him. I told him I had given the pager to the police. He kept quiet, said 'oh ... okay' and hung up," said Heri, a resident of Gg. Raya in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta.

"I don't know where he got this stall's number from ... he could have been a regular customer."

When asked if there was a public telephone center or booth in the area, he said that the only one he knew was the one next to Jagakarsa Economic College. (ylt)