Police to upgrade security unit at airport
Police to upgrade security unit at airport
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
National Police Headquarters is to upgrade its unit at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from a subprecinct to a
precinct following the bomb attack at the airport last week.
"The upgrade will take place in the next one or two weeks,"
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said Monday.
He said the new status would be similar to that of Tanjung
Priok Port Police, which coordinates security, including by
businesses and the port operator, at the port.
Existing security arrangements at the airport would be
integrated in a similar way, he said after swearing in the new
deputy chief of Jakarta Police, Brig. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, the
former secretary of the National Central Board of Interpol.
Airport Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sri Suari Wahyudi has said
her task was difficult, given the limited access police had to
private areas of the airport, which is managed by Angkasa Pura.
Currently security at the airport and other public places at
risk of terrorist attack are under the control of Jakarta Police
strategic infrastructure protection chief Sr. Comr. Oegroseno.
The blast at terminal 2F of the airport was the fourth attack
in the capital this year. The attack injured 11 people, including
women and children.
National Police detectives chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng
said on Monday that police had produced the sketches of two
people who planted the bomb.
"Both of the suspects are men. The sketches were made based on
witnesses descriptions," he said, adding the sketches would be
released soon.
The witnesses, Mappaseng added, told investigators that one of
the men put a black suitcase containing the bomb under a chair
outside the KFC fast-food outlet at the airport.
Police believe the attack is related to an earlier bombing
behind the UN building in central Jakarta and last month's
bombings in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, due to
similarities in the types of explosives used.
Police in North Sumatra say a Medan-based GAM commander has
confessed to the separatist movement's role in the Medan bombing.
However, GAM have rejected claims they were behind the attacks
in Jakarta.