Two 'ojek' drivers arrested over Jl. Sabang blast

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested two ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers in connection with a bomb blast which damaged a vacant department store on Jl. H. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta early last month, an officer said on Saturday.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis identified the suspects as Sundah and Sugiono, both 29.

The two were arrested in Duren village of Bangkalan on Madura island, East Java, on Thursday.

"The suspects were arrested at their hideouts by a police team, whose members consisted of both Jakarta and East Java police officers," Lubis told reporters.

With the arrest of the two, he said, it leaves six other suspects for the police to trace in a bid to find out the real motive and the mastermind of the Jan. 2 blast at the Ramayana department store on the street, which is also called Jl. Sabang.

Police earlier arrested three suspects -- Rosalina, 50, a director of a real estate agent, Pieter, 42, an alleged bombmaker, and Wally, a private employee.

Based on preliminary interrogation, the police have concluded that the powerful bomb blast -- which left a huge hole in the store and shattered windows of neighboring buildings -- was sparked by a land dispute.

Rosalina, for example, has admitted to paying Rp 400 million to a man to solve the dispute over the land on which the Ramayana department store stands. The man, Amir, is still at large.

But Rosalina denied ordering Amir to blow up the department store, officer Lubis said.

With the arrest of the two ojek drivers, the police at first thought that the case had nothing to do with politics, he added.

During questioning, Sundah and Sugiono said that they, along with follow ojek driver Pardi, who is still at large, were waiting for fares at their regular place near Bank Papan Sejahtera headquarters on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta, when Amir and four other men approached them and offered them work.

The two suspects said that Amir promised to give them Rp 1 million if they completed the mission.

"Amir just asked us to join them. I didn't know where we were going or what we were suppose to do," Sugiono was quoted by Lubis as saying.

It was three days before the bomb blast, the officer said.

At about 3:30 a.m. of Jan. 2, the gang of eight men then moved from Kuningan to the scene on three motorcycles and in a taxi.

According to Sugiono, he stopped on the corner of the street and watched the others "put packages inside the department store", he said.

It remains unknown how they got inside the store.

The gang then fled in different directions before the bomb exploded at about 5 a.m, Lubis said.

According to Sundah, he received Rp 500,000 from Tilan, one of Amir's accomplices, a few hours later. Sugiono said he got his share of Rp 250,000 directly from Amir on the following day.

According to Lubis, the police suspect that the remaining six suspects are hiding somewhere on Madura.

In a related development, a reliable police source said the arrest of the two suspects was made possible with the help of local Muslim clerics on Madura, especially members of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization.

The source said on Saturday that city police detectives chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo visited the organization's chairman, Abdurrahman Wahid, earlier at his house in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, to ask for help.

Abdurrahman, widely known as Gus Dur, then wrote a letter addressed to local Madura clerics which instructed them to help the police find the suspects of the Ramayana bomb blast.

When asked on Saturday to comment on Gus Dur's participation in the arrest, Alex simply smiled but refused to explain further.

He did not deny the episode took place. (jun)