Recent robberies may be linked to terrorism: Police
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who had just withdrawn the money from the bank.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.