Trade ministry receives bomb threat

JAKARTA: The employees at the Ministry of Trade on Jl. Ridwan Rais, Central Jakarta, left the office building in panic early on Tuesday after a colleague received a text message saying that a bomb had been planted in the building.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that the SMS was received by an information officer at about 6:30 a.m. The message said that the bomb was planted on the 12th floor and would explode sometime before 4:15 p.m.

The bomb squad declared the building safe after combing the building for several hours.

However, the employees who already fled the building did not return to work. -- JP