Police secure suspicious box at U.S. embassy compound
Police secure suspicious box at U.S. embassy compound
JAKARTA (JP): Police secured a package believed to contain an explosive device which caused concern among staffers at the American embassy compound yesterday.
"The object is being further examined at the squad's headquarters," Col. Heniyoso G., who heads up the On-Alert Police Squad, which oversees the Bomb Squad, said yesterday evening.
The package, dated April 16, was delivered to the embassy at 10 a.m. yesterday by Solihin, an employee of the private courier firm, PT Tunggal Jaya.
Three hours later, after the embassy staff checked the package with a metal detector and found it suspicious, the Indonesian police were called in.
A police officer, Heniyoso, dressed in a flak jacket, examined the package, which was roughly the size of a carton of cigarettes, at a security post in the embassy compound, which is located next to the office of Vice-president Try Sutrisno.
During the examination, which took about 15 minutes, dozens of reporters were thrown out of the U.S. embassy compound by embassy security officials, who told them the press was not allowed to cover the incident.
As of yesterday evening, members of the City Police Bomb Squad had yet to disclose whether the parcel contained an explosive device.
According to a member of the squad, who asked not to be named, the metal object in the package had no timer system on it, indicating that it was not a time bomb.
The officer said the parcel also contained a flag and a bunch of documents written in the Indonesian language.
The flag measures two meters long and one-and-a-half meters wide. It has a white flower in the center, which is surrounded by red and white stripes.
Journalists were denied access to the papers, some of which contained the flag logo.
The sender of the package, which was wrapped in brown paper and measured 30 centimeters long, 20 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters high, identified himself as drg. (dentist) Hidayat MBA from Solo, Central Java, in the return address.
The sender addressed the package to the American ambassador at his office in the embassy compound on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta.
Maj. Amir Hasan Sidik, head of the police unit for the safeguarding of very important persons, said the sender must be crazy.
"The embassy has received several letters sent by a person using the same name," Amir said.
A source on the Bomb Squad said that a similar package had once been addressed to the office of Indonesian minister/state secretary.
A spokeswoman at the U.S. embassy, Kathleen J. Brahney, said the embassy appreciated the cooperation and prompt response of the local police authorities on this matter. (bsr/07)