Police not on the ball, 'bomb' explode
Police not on the ball, 'bomb' explode
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang
Fifteen Jakarta Police bomb squad members armed with SS-1 and AK-
74 rifles boarded a Boeing 747-400 Garuda Indonesia airplane at
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after a bomb threat forced
the plane to make an emergency landing.
Four of the officers had bomb detectors. They located a bomb
in a toilet, but had been warned of another bomb on board. The
clock was ticking, but the police could not find anything, until
suddenly ... "Boom!" The other bomb, on seat No. 11, exploded.
None of the officers were injured in the explosion.
The scene in the airport's "crisis area" on Wednesday was in
fact a simulation of a terror attack designed by airport
management PT Angkasa Pura II, together with the city police,
national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia and Garda Kesehatan
medical workers.
Airport Police chief Sr. Comr. Firman Shantyabudi said the
bomb squad were not very knowledgeable about aircraft, which made
detecting bombs on planes extremely difficult.
"It is a weakness that the National Police must continue to
evaluate," he said, adding that several officers had never been
on a plane in their lives.
Firman said the police must prepare themselves, since
terrorists are always changing the type of places they target.
Recently, on Sept. 9, a bomb exploded outside the Australian
Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, killing 10
people and wounding over 180 others.
An explosion at the airport on April 27, 2003, injured 11
people, including a family of three.
An earlier stage of the simulation saw another bomb placed in
the rear part of the aircraft explode. The plane had been heading
toward Achmad Yani airport in Semarang, when the "bomb threat
call" was received by an airport officer.
Four fire trucks were deployed to put out the fire and an
inflatable ramp was installed at the emergency exit door.
The pilot opened the emergency door and passengers slid down
the ramp, one by one. A medical team evacuated the passengers.
Those suffering injuries were taken to the nearest hospital.