'Speaker bomb' to be deactivated

JAKARTA (JP): A speaker found in a train, which was suspected of containing a bomb, was removed by the National Police bomb squad (Gegana) and taken to a field located very near the East Jakarta Police Headquarters on Thursday.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said that until late Thursday evening, Gegana Police officers were still trying to deactivate the "speaker bomb".

The speaker, Anton said, was found by Hendri Kurniawan who was on an electric train, which travels between Bogor and Kota.

Hendri said that it was in excellent condition, but it didn't seem to belong to anybody since nobody was paying attention to it. He brought the speaker to his office in Pisangan, East Jakarta, Anton told The Jakarta Post.

"Upon reaching there, Hendri checked out the speaker, and opened it. He saw a lot of wiring and batteries connected to a cell phone and a walkman. He found it very odd-looking. So, he contacted the Matraman Police in East Jakarta."

According to a source at the Matraman Police station, they immediately contacted the National Police bomb squad (Gegana) who by 1:30 p.m. had taken the "speaker bomb" to the Urip Sumahardjo field.

"Bomb squad experts believe that this is a current technique ... activating a bomb with the use of a cell phone," the source said. (ylt)