Police should focus on RDX not chlorate, expert says
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Conflicting statements issued by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the National Police on the specific materials used in the Oct. 12 Bali bombings have prompted a researcher with the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) to urge police to focus the investigation on the chemical RDX.
"Just focus on RDX as it will lead to larger networks behind the bombings, not only Amrozi's (network)," said Hermawan Sulistyo, who has joined the team investigating the Bali blasts formed by the Bali Police Headquarters.
Amrozi is the only suspect in detention so far.
Hermawan said an investigation into the source of RDX might be beneficial and significant in the effort to uncover the group that masterminded the bombings.
RDX (Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) is a basic compound found in the C-4 explosive, which is made according to military specifications.
Police have said they are still in the dark over the place where the bombers obtained the main materials used in the Bali bombings.
The head of the AFP contingent in Bali, Graham Aston, has said his team had so far only found chlorate and TNT. The AFP's findings were at odds with those obtained by both the joint investigation team, consisting of international investigators and forensic experts, and National Police officers. Both have confirmed that the explosives used in the Bali bombings contained three major compounds: TNT (Trinitrotoluene), RDX, HMX (high melting explosive), plus a detonator filled with PETN (Pentaerythritoltetranitrate).
Hermawan said the discovery at the blast scene of traces of chlorate as one of the materials used in the bombs, as reported by the AFP, only matches the chemicals purchased by Amrozi at the Tidar Kimia chemical shop in Surabaya. Still, the discovery is not reliable due to several fundamental reasons, he said.
"First, the AFP team came four days after the blasts so their findings are likely to be inaccurate. We cannot use those findings as the blast site had been contaminated," Hermawan said.
Second, Hermawan said that judging from the devastation caused by the blasts, which included a four-meter-wide, 60-centimeter- deep crater, the perpetrators would have needed one ton of chlorate-based explosives.
Such a huge amount of explosives did not match the fact that the most powerful explosion was caused by the bomb placed in the small Mitsubishi L-300 van, which had been deliberately left by the perpetrators with the key in the lock.
"The allegation is likely meant to simplify the case by linking the explosives to the chemicals bought by Amrozi," said Hermawan.
Police have said that the traces of chemicals found at the blast scene were also found in the places that the bombers visited in the days prior to the bombings. They include Hotel Harum on Jl. Teuku Umar, a rented room on Jl. Gatot Subroto and another rented room on Jl. Marlboro in Denpasar.
According to the police, Amrozi confirmed the findings and said that prior to the bombings, the bombers had visited those places.
Police have said Amrozi played a minor role in the bombings as he only procured the vehicles used in the bombings and some additional chemicals used in the explosives. Police also confirmed that the chemicals purchased by Amrozi at the chemical shop in Surabaya were not the main materials used in the bombings.
"They were only a combination of the explosives, but the main materials were TNT and RDX," Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said earlier.
Pastika also said he believed those chemicals could be obtained here in Indonesia.
He said that Amrozi had bought the chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate, aluminum powder and sulfur from the shop. The chemicals weighed one ton.
Meanwhile, National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang revealed that the findings obtained by the AFP and the National Police were different due to the different locations and samples taken for laboratory analysis.
"The difference is only due to the different times and locations of the investigation," said Aritonang.
Aritonang, however, played down allegations that there had been discord between the National Police and the AFP.