Three testify in Tanah Tinggi bomb case

Three testify in Tanah Tinggi bomb case

JAKARTA (JP): Three prosecution witnesses took the stand at
the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday in the trial of Agus
Priyono for possessing explosive devices which blew up at a low-
cost apartment in Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta, on Jan. 18.

The witnesses -- Sunardi, Toni Ali and Narso, all residents of
the apartment complex -- said they were not acquainted with Agus
prior to his detention.

Sunardi, the owner of the apartment where the blast occurred,
said the place was rented by a man with glasses, not Agus.

Toni and Narso also testified that they first became familiar
with Agus after he was arrested on Jan. 18.

Prosecutor Y.W. Mere told the court in his indictment that
Agus and two alleged accomplices, identified as Prayogo and Cony,
were involved in the blast. Prayogo and Cony are still at large.

Mere said Agus was invited by Prayogo to visit Jakarta on Jan.
8 from Surakarta, Central Java, to stay at the apartment.

Mere said Prayogo paid the defendant Rp 4,000 a day to monitor
the Atrium Senen and Megaria shopping complexes in Central
Jakarta which they plotted to blow up.

"The defendant was to report on the situation at the shopping
complexes to Prayogo for two weeks. The report then was to be
analyzed by the three men."

He did not disclose the trio's motive in targeting the
complexes.

He stated the defendant and his accomplices kept explosive
devices, including eight bottles containing gun powder; 40 lamps,
and eight boxes of detonators, at the apartment.

Prayogo, he said, had once told the defendant not to keep one
of the boxes near the stove or even touch it because it could
easily explode.

But a homemade bomb exploded at about 6 p.m. on Jan. 18, which
was during the Ramadhan fasting month, when the three men were
resting on the floor waiting to break the fast.

"They could have been killed if they were not lying on the
floor," he said.

Prayogo and Cony managed escaped but Agus was caught by local
residents.

Mere said the police forensic laboratory stated that the
devices and materials confiscated at the apartment could have
been assembled into a bomb.

He charged the defendant under Article 1 (1) of the Emergency
Law No. 12/1951 on guns and explosive devices, which carries a
maximum punishment of the death penalty.

Mere told The Jakarta Post earlier that Andi Arief, chairman
of the Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy (SMID), a
branch of the banned Democratic People's Party (PRD), was at the
apartment when the explosion occurred.

Andi was arrested on March 28 by police in Lampung and
released on April 17.

Presiding judge Dalil Ahmad adjourned the trial until next
week to hear other witnesses' testimonies.

The incident attracted considerable public attention after the
Jakarta Agency for the Coordination of Support for the
Development of National Stability summoned brothers Sofyan
Wanandi and Jusuf Wanandi, both businessmen, and publisher Surya
Paloh for clarification on the case. The three denied any
involvement. (jun)