Two bombing suspects hold up guard, break out of jail
JAKARTA (JP): Two suspects in the bombing of Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building broke out of Cipinang Penitentiary, East Jakarta, on Friday after holding up a guard with a gun that had been smuggled into the penitentiary along with two hand grenades.
East Jakarta Police, nevertheless, rearrested suspect Irwansyah minutes after his escape, but suspect Nuryadin managed to get away on a stolen motorcycle.
A former member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), Irwansyah, told reporters after his rearrest that he escaped because his life had been threatened by a man sent by Ibrahim Hasan, another JSX bombing suspect who escaped from his elite Military Police guards on July 16.
"I received the gun and grenades from Ibrahim's man... I was ordered to escape or... I would be murdered inside this jail," Irwansyah told police detectives and reporters at East Jakarta Police Headquarters.
The penitentiary's chief warden Asep M. Firdaus, who is strongly rumored to be soon dismissed over this incident, could not be reached for comment.
Penitentiary guards told reporters that the incident occurred at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, which was visiting time for prisoners. They had just finished praying at the Baitturahim Mosque, located inside the penitentiary.
Acting as if they were visitors who had just finished visiting someone in jail, the two suspects, Nuryadin and Irwansyah, tried to get out of the penitentiary's front door, wearing fake yellow- colored name tags, with Departemen Kehakiman (Ministry of Justice) written on them.
"They were dressed in normal clothes, not prisoner' uniforms. Upon reaching the front door, guard Silalahi checked their name tags and declared them fake. Both suspects then held a gun to Silalahi's neck. The suspects then walked out of the jail," a guard said.
East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Agus Irianto said that upon getting out of jail, the suspects were faced by two police officers, who had by then been notified that there had been a jailbreak.
"The police officers gave chase, but the prisoners were faster. They ran like crazy, and when they saw the officers gaining on them, one of the suspects threw grenades at the officers," Agus said.
The grenades, however, did not explode. Each of these Korean- made grenades has two pins, one of which is attached to the detonator. The suspect had only pulled one pin of each.
Nuryadin stopped a passing motorcycle, and shot its driver, Rudiana, in the mouth before stealing the motorcycle and getting away.
Irwansyah tried to follow but by then, Nuryadin had escaped on the motorcycle.
Irwansyah tried to steal another motorcycle, but the woman who was driving the motorcycle knocked him over with it.
Irwansyah was then arrested.
The police seized a .38 millimeter caliber Smith & Wesson gun, four bullets and two Korean-made grenades from Irwansyah.
Police also arrested penitentiary guard Silalahi, who claimed that he had been held up by the suspects.
"This man needs to be questioned. How could two suspects smuggle a long-barreled gun and two grenades into the penitentiary, if not without the help of these so-called guards?" Agus told The Jakarta Post.
This is the third jailbreak in relation to suspects of the JSX bombing last September which left at least 10 people dead.
On July 16, Second. Corp. Ibrahim Hasan, of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), escaped while a car transporting him to a hospital had a flat tire.
Hasan's escape led to the suspension of Jakarta's Military Police chief Col. Joestiono, who was held responsible for the incident.
Another suspect, Ibrahim Abdul Wahab, 40, escaped from his cell at the Cipinang Penitentiary by climbing the wall with a rope thrown to a tree outside the high prison walls in February this year. (ylt)