Recent robberies may be linked to terrorism: Police

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Police said they would step up their investigation into a string of recent robberies across the country, amid fears the robberies were related to terrorism.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bahrul Alam said on Friday the police would investigate the robberies to determine whether they were carried out by terrorists to finance their operations in the country.

"According to information gathered by the police, Imam Samudra and his team members robbed banks and jewelry stores to raise the funds for the terrorist attack in Bali," Anton said, referring to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

There is concern that terrorists are again resorting to robberies to raise money for attacks. This concern is heightened because of warnings that terrorists are planning actions during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

A robbery occurred outside the Bank Mandiri branch in Tebet, South Jakarta, on Thursday. Robbers shot and killed one security guard before making off with Rp 75 million (US$7,500) from a man who had just withdrawn the money from the bank.

A jewelry store in Yogyakarta was held up on Dec. 12. The armed robbers escaped with five kilograms of gold jewelry worth hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Another jewelry shop in Tangerang was hit on the same day, with the robbers escaping with 24 kilograms of gold jewelry worth about Rp 1.2 billion.

In Jakarta, there has been a string of armed robberies targeting bank customers. In some incidents, the robbers have made off with more than Rp 100 million.

The National Police have set up a special team to investigate all of these cases.

Anton could not say whether the recent robberies were linked to terrorism, saying the police were still investigating to determine if the robbers were members of a terrorist network.

"When we raided Azahari's hideout we found documents on the group's logistic network. We are doing the best we can to cut off those networks, especially the funding, so they cannot move and plan another attack," Anton said, referring to Malaysian national Azahari bin Husin, who is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind a series of bombings in the country.

Azahari was killed in a police raid in the East Java resort town of Batu last November. However, Noordin M. Top, another Malaysian thought to be behind the bombings here, remains at large and authorities fear he is planning more attacks.