Police make more arrests, key suspects remain at large
Muhammad Nafik and A'an Suryana The Jakarta Post Denpasar/Jakarta
The National Police may have scored a major breakthrough with the arrests of 15 people linked to the Bali bomb blasts so far, but the achievement has done little to restore a sense of security among members of the public.
The closure of some international schools in Jakarta for eight consecutive days is a clear sign that people are still afraid given that seven other key suspects in the terrorist attack on Bali over one month ago are still at large
Police claim they have identified the possible hide-outs of the remaining suspects.
Spokesman for the joint investigative team Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said on Tuesday that in addition to prime suspects Amrozi and Imam Samudra, police had detained 13 alleged accomplices who were indirectly involved, seven of whom were picked up in different parts of the country on Monday.
Police in Pekanbaru, Riau, arrested four people who had allegedly helped Samudra produce a fake passport under the name of Faiz Junzhar, which he was to have used to travel to Malaysia. Among the four was Ernawati, an administration staffer with PT Indo Jaya, a company that provides passport and other personal identification document "services".
Apparently, Samudra claimed he wanted to go to Malaysia as a migrant worker.
The second person arrested was Syahrial, an official with the Kinapelaen district administration in Riau, who helped Samudra to obtain an identity card issued by the district.
Two others were Jauhary Effendy and Suhaemi, but the police failed to spell out their respective roles in procuring the fake passport.
According to Aritonang, the fake passport was produced in order to allow Imam to flee the country in the aftermath of the Bali blasts.
"Unfortunately for him, he was arrested in Merak port before he could leave the country," said Aritonang.
Regarding the arrest of Agus on Monday, another person linked to Imam Samudra, Aritonang said that Agus was arrested for having one FN pistol and one revolver.
In Serang, one day after Agus' arrest, Ujata, Ichwan Fauzi and Aprianto, who were friends of Agus, were arrested by the West Java police and were charged with the possession of explosives that were allegedly to have been used to bomb the Bank Central Asia branch office in Serang, Banten.
"They are being questioned over the possession of eight kilograms of potassium, which was to be used in making the next bomb. The target was to have been the BCA branch," said Aritonang during a teleconference with journalists in Bali.
However, the motive behind the planned attack remains unclear.
In Batam, the police arrested two other people linked to the Bali bomb blasts, who were identified only as Chalil and Lucas.
So far they have been charged with customs violations. The police refused to give any further details.
Meanwhile back to Jakarta, Imam Samudra was declared mentally and physically fit on Tuesday after undergoing a medical examination by police physicians.
Following the examination, the police are now free to continue their questioning of Iman, and the investigation into his role as well as the details of past bomb blasts targeting churches in several places, including Batam and Pekanbaru.
Regarding possible links between Al-Qaeda and the Imam Samudra group, as has been suggested by Time magazine in its latest edition, Aritonang said that the police had yet to find any links.
The mass circulation magazine, citing various intelligence sources, reported that Imam Samudra was merely a field operative, while the real masterminds were senior Al-Qaeda operatives Syafullah from Yemen, Malaysian national Zubair, and one Syawal, reportedly an Indonesian hard-liner.