Police reenact events prior to bombing
Police reenact events prior to bombing
JAKARTA (JP): As part of their ongoing investigation into last
week's bomb blast outside the residence of Philippine Ambassador
Leonides T. Caday, city police detectives reenacted on Tuesday
the chronology of the incident on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central
Jakarta.
It was not a full reenactment, however, as just a Suzuki
minivan was put in place about one-meter to the right of the
original blast site. No witnesses or victims were present at the
scene and little else was done to refresh the chronology of the
incident.
Leading the enactment, city police chief of detectives Sr.
Supt. Harry Montolalu said it was only aimed at refreshing the
memories of the people who were in the area when the bomb
exploded but who had yet to come forward to the police.
"Probably, people do not dare or do not have time.
"After being exposed in the media, hopefully people will be
ready to give information to the police about what they know
about and saw during the incident," he told reporters at the
reenactment scene.
"Police need more testimonies from other people who were in
the vicinity of the blast when the bomb exploded, due to the
conflicting testimonies of witnesses who have been questioned by
the police.
"The additional testimonies will give us a better description
of the incident. For example, some people said that the Suzuki
minivan had been parked at the spot since 10 a.m, but others said
it was there since 12 a.m.," he added.
He said detectives had so far questioned 29 people as
witnesses to the incident, which claimed two lives and left 21
others injured, including the ambassador.
Police said earlier that the Mercedes sedan, in which the
ambassador was riding, was about to enter the residence when the
bomb exploded.
When asked why the reenactment was not carried out in full,
Harry said a complete one would be performed after the
perpetrators were arrested.
"The suspects will provide us with a better description of the
incident, therefore a full reenactment will be carried out after
their arrest," he said.
Dozens of print and television journalists covered the
procession, congesting the traffic on Jl. Imam Bonjol.
They stood close to the Suzuki van, which was borrowed from
the city police headquarters.
The original car was totally destroyed by the blast, which is
believed to have been the largest in the country's history.
Assistant to city police spokesman Asst. Supt. Alex Mandalika
said police investigators had difficulty finding the owner of the
car.
"We couldn't find the chassis number of the original red car,
and that has prevented us from being able to identify the car
documents and its owner," he said, adding that examination
results by the National Police central forensics laboratory
showed that the suspect had apparently changed the color of the
car four times. (asa)