Shepherd alerts Bekasi Police of grenade find
Shepherd alerts Bekasi Police of grenade find
JAKARTA (JP): The vigilance of a young shepherd who was
tending his buffaloes saved a lot of lives from being lost to
possible grenade explosions, Bekasi Police chief said on Monday.
Adj. High Comr. Idrus Gissang said that it was sheer luck when
a passing buffalo belonging to Taufik Dimira, 15, kicked wires
connected to the pins of three grenades, located in the middle of
and under the railway tracks between the Lemah Abang and the
Kedung Gede railway stations.
"But it was the young herder's vigilance, that he traced the
source of the wires, saw the grenades, alerted a train security
post in Lemah Abang, and immediately reported the finding," Idrus
told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Taufik is a local resident.
Idrus said that had it not been for Taufik, the three grenades
would have exploded, damaged the tracks and any train passing
would have found itself heading for a crash.
"One of Taufik's grazing buffaloes was kicking some wires and
Taufik saw this. He traced the end of the wires and saw them
attached to two grenades, in between the railway tracks. Upon
further inspection, he found another one under the track."
Idrus added that police were still in the dark about those
involved in the placing of the three live grenades.
"Whoever placed the grenades was very smart. He placed them in
such a position... you can only find houses 200 meters west and
east of the grenade location, and 200 meters north and south of
the location, nothing can be found," Idrus said.
"One of the grenades was made in Korea. The person used a 20-
meter wire, which was brand new, and attached this to the pins of
the three grenades. Just pull the wires and the grenades would
have exploded. The suspect or suspects must have taken a good 10
minutes to fix all this."
Idrus said two of the grenades were placed between the tracks,
and one under the track, in the Karangsari village of Kedung
Waringin, some 49.5 kilometers east of here.
Trains heading for or leaving Jakarta were delayed for 3.5
hours after the Lemah Abang police subprecinct received the
information.
"We forbade any train from passing the area. The National
Police bomb squad arrived, worked on the grenades, and defused
them safely," Idrus said.
Bomb explosions rocked church compounds in the capital and
other major cities in Indonesia on Christmas Eve, killing at
least 19 people and injuring over a hundred people.
Aside from the Christmas Eve bombings which killed four in
Jakarta, bomb blast incidents in 2000 occurred once each in
February, March and April, thrice in August and thrice in
September.
Altogether, 17 people died in the bomb blasts in the capital
throughout last year.
Bomb threats were received here prior to the New Year
festivities, but all of them proved to be hoaxes. (ylt)