Two bombing suspects hold up guard, break out of jail

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)