Police release man resembling one of Bali bombing suspects
Police release man resembling one of Bali bombing suspects
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar/Kupang
The police released on Saturday a man arrested in Ngada
regency, East Nusa Tenggara, two days earlier for his resemblance
to a sketch of a suspect in the Bali nightclub bombings that
killed over 190 people.
The spokesman for the joint team investigating the bombings,
Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, said on Saturday the man, identified
only by his initials R.S., was transferred from Ngada to
Denpasar, via Maumere on Friday.
"However, after some questioning we determined this man was
not the one we were looking for. So we released him today," he
said.
Ngada Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Victor E. Simanjuntak
announced on Thursday the police had arrested a Jakarta resident
born in Ambon, who resembled one of the Bali suspects.
The man was detained at a bus terminal in the town of Bajawa
on Flores island, about 500 kilometers east of Bali, he said.
The man, 33, with shoulder-length hair, attempted to hide his
face with a newspaper when police picked him up at the bus
terminal, Victor said.
"He is refusing to answer many of our questions," Victor said
at the time.
Investigators said R.S. told them that he was vacationing in
Flores and was in Bajawa looking for a hotel for the night.
The manhunt for those responsible for the Bali bombings is
also taking place on Indonesia's main island of Java. Police
raiding a house on the island found a photograph matching one of
three suspects whose faces appeared in composite sketches
released earlier this week.
About 120 Australian police and intelligence officers are
working in Bali with detectives from Indonesia, the United
States, Britain, Japan and other countries. About half of those
killed in the Bali attack were Australian.
Indonesian Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Jalil has accused
the al-Qaeda terror network of being involved in the bombings --
the world's most deadly terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.
Neighboring Australia and other countries have identified
Jamaah Islamiyah, an allegedly al-Qaeda-linked organization, as
the most likely culprit in the bombings.