Police release sketches of Bali bomb suspects

Police release sketches of Bali bomb suspects

The Jakarta Post, Bali/Jakarta

The police on Wednesday released simultaneously in Jakarta and
Bali composite sketches of three people believed to be the
suspects in the Oct. 12 deadly bomb explosion that has claimed
over 190 lives, mostly foreigners.

The release of the sketches on Wednesday is a result of the
joint inquiry team's two-week investigation into the tragedy.

At a news conference near the bomb blast site, Insp. Gen. Made
Mangku Pastika, chairing the joint inquiry team, showed the three
suspects' sketches to those attending, including the coordinator
of the international investigators team, Assistant Comr. Graham
Ashton of the Australian Federal Police.

The first sketch is of a male, possibly Javanese and
approximately 20 years of age. He is described as being of a
medium build and weighing about 60 kilograms. He has medium
complexion, dark eyes and straight shoulder-length hair that is
parted in the middle.

The second sketch is of a man in his late 20s, approximately
160 centimeters to 165 cm tall and possibly from East Java. He is
heavily built with a large belly, and has full lips, heavy-
lidded, droopy eyes, and thin straight collar-length hair with
both sides tucked behind his ears. He was seen wearing a pale
green shirt.

"They are thought to be from Java and East Java based on
eyewitnesses' testimony that the two men spoke in Bahasa
Indonesia with a distinct Javanese accent," Pastika explained.

The third sketch is of a man, approximately 27 years old, 170
cm tall, but whose ethnic background is not known. He is thin and
athletically built, weighing between 45 kg and 50 kg. He has dark
eyes, sparse eyebrows, short dark brown hair, a dark brown
complexion, a thin face with a sharply defined jaw and prominent
cheek bones. His front right tooth is chipped.

"The three men are part of a larger group, possibly comprising
six to 10 members. By releasing these sketches to the public, we
hope that we will be able to locate the other members of this
group," Pastika said.

He declined to say what the possible impact would be if the
three sketches were different from the actual perpetrators.

Pastika further said that the police had made their own
sketches, which were later fleshed out by Australian experts with
the help of sophisticated image-generating computers provided by
the Victoria State Police.

"The final sketches were later shown to the witnesses to make
them closer to their testimony," he said.

By being able to identify the bombing suspects, Pastika said
that the team had completed the first part of their investigation
into the tragedy.

The second part, he said, would be to search for the suspects.

"Whether we will be able to apprehend them in the near future
depends on which one of us is luckier," he said.

Asked if a certain extremist group was possibly involved in
the tragedy, Pastika refused to comment, saying that the suspects
were not linked to any religion.

"I have repeatedly insisted that the police investigation is
based on facts, physical evidence and eyewitnesses' testimony,
directly related to the crime scene. We welcome any speculation
and analysis on this case, but we will not be able to conclude
whether these suspects are connected to this group or that group
until we arrest them," he said.

Separately, State Intelligence Agency (BIN) spokesman Muchyar
Yara revealed that the three suspects were part of a list of 10
names that BIN had submitted to police.

"The police will likely go through with searching for these
three men, but we have put forward a list of 10 possible suspects
from our investigation of the tragedy," Muchyar told The Jakarta
Post by telephone.

He further said that BIN had also included several foreigners
on the list, who may have left the country soon after the
tragedy.

However, the spokesman refused to go into detail on the
suspects' personal identities, because he said it would be part
of the intelligence team's classified report.

"According to our estimates, the Indonesian suspects are still
at home but not in Bali," he said.

A foreign diplomat told The Jakarta Post that there was a
Canadian suspect, named Mohamed Mansour Jabarah, alias Sammy, who
is reportedly an al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia.

The terror suspect was working with his colleague, Fathur
Rohman Al-Ghozi, alias Mike, an Indonesian who is currently in
prison in Manila for conducting terror activities in the region.

Muchyar said that although there were similarities between the
Bali bombing with the operation style of the al-Qaeda terrorist
network, it would be too soon to conclude that the bombing was
linked to it.

"We cannot say whether there are any clear indications of a
possible linkage between the Bali bombing and al-Qaeda or Jama'ah
Islamiyah," Muchyar said.