Tommy a suspect in judge's murder

Tommy a suspect in judge's murder

JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Ins. Gen. Sofjan Yacob
declared on Monday night that former president Soeharto's
fugitive son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was the main suspect
in the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin
Kartasasmita.

Sofjan said in a snap media conference that mounting evidence
had pointed to Tommy as the mastermind of the killing and that he
was aided by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"We call on Tommy to surrender himself within three days," he
said. "If he does, we will treat him well. Otherwise, we will
take strict measures."

Police said that Tommy was involved in the murder following
the arrests of eight people in several raids carried out in
cooperation with the Jakarta Military Command last week.

Two of the men, Ferry Ukom, 41, a resident of Pamulang,
Tangerang, and Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf, 34, from Graha Hijau, Ciputat,
Tangerang, admitted to having drawn the sketches of the houses of
Supreme Court justices R. Sunu Wahadi and Paulus E. Lotulung, and
the route from their residence to the Supreme Court.

Justice Syaifuddin was shot dead on the morning of July 26 by
four men riding on two motorcycles, while he was driving through
Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on his way to work.

Sunu and Syafiuddin were among the justices who sentenced
Tommy to 18 months in jail last year on corruption charges.

Sofjan said that Ferry and Dedi confessed that they had drawn
the sketches at Tommy's request.

On Monday at 8 p.m., during a raid in a house located on Jl.
Alam Segar III/23 B in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, police found
a fake ID card belonging to Tommy, a number of documents, more
than a dozen guns, dozens of knives, 150 rounds of ammunition and
high explosives.

"We found a fake ID card belonging to Tommy and a birth
certificate in the name of Ibrahim," Sofjan said.

The ID picture showed Tommy with a moustache, beard and longer
hair, he said.

Sofjan also read a letter addressed to Tommy, explaining a
bombing project code named sawah (rice field), and that the
explosives could be obtained from the border of Kashmir and
Afghanistan.

Earlier on Saturday night, police arrested a woman identified
as Hetty Siti Hartika, 39, from Cemara Apartments in Menteng,
Central Jakarta.

Police had received a tip that Tommy would meet his
accomplices in the apartment, located on Jl. Cemara, but when
officers stormed one of the rooms in the apartment, they only
found the woman.

"I led the raid at the apartment building. I confirm that
Tommy was not there," Sofjan said.

During the raid, police confiscated 74 sticks of dynamite, two
M-16 rifles, five pistols, 11 artillery magazines, 13 cell phones
connected to bombs, two hand grenades, 150 bullets, 10
detonators, one bomb and Rp 70 million and US$12,600 in cash.

The police are still investigating Tommy's alleged involvement
in the series of bombings that have rocked Jakarta and other
cities in the country.

Separately, a powerful blast took place at the house of Rev.
John Then on Jl. Agung Mas in the Cokroaminoto area of Yogyakarta
late on Monday night, shocking nearby residents.

Yogyakarta Regional Police chief Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf told
The Jakarta Post by phone that no casualties were reported in the
blast that took place at about 8:15 p.m. on
Monday.(emf/tso/bby/edt)