Woman in love sends bomb threat: Police

Woman in love sends bomb threat: Police

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A woman sent a bomb threat through a text message to foreign
embassies in Jakarta in a ruse to prevent her boyfriend who works
at an embassy from going out of town, police revealed here on
Saturday.

Zulfa, 22, sent the bomb threat through a short message
service to the police on Thursday night in the hope that her
boyfriend who works as a security guard at a foreign embassy
would not be able to go to his hometown in the East Java city of
Ngawi as planned, police said.

"She wanted him to stay here," city police spokesman Sr. Comr.
Tjiptono was quoted by Detikcom as saying on Saturday referring
to Zulfa who is now a suspect.

Zulfa, who was arrested on Friday night, is in a state of a
shock and is being treated at a hospital, police said. She faces
a possible one-year prison term.

The text message was received by city police deputy chief
Brig. Gen. Bagus Eko Danto at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday. The message
said that within 12 hours both the British and Thai embassies
would be blown up.

Police said they traced Zulfa through her pre-paid cellular
phone number. Bomb squads and antiterror forces were deployed
around the two embassies on Friday. The threat prompted both
embassies to close for the day.

Police said they would continuously guard the two embassies
although the suspect had been detained.

Indonesia has been on high alert in recent weeks following
warnings from foreign governments that terrorists may have been
plotting a strike to coincide with the Christmas period.

Australia, the United States and New Zealand have all advised
their citizens against visiting the country. Both Britain and the
United States issued new warnings in light of Thursday's bomb
threat.