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.