Indonesian police arrest four smugglers of explosives

Indonesian police said Friday they had arrested four people involved in smuggling hundreds of kilograms of explosive materials from Malaysia into Indonesia. East Kalimantan Police Chief Maj. Gen. Sitompul said that four other suspects escaped and remain at large.

He said the four, three women and a man, were seized on a speedboat heading for the town of Pare Pare on Sulawesi island.

Indonesian security forces have been on high alert since Oct. 1, when three suicide bombers set off charges killing 20 other people on the resort island of Bali.

"Police have seized hundreds kilograms of explosive material, a thousand meters of fuse and 900 detonators," said Sitompul, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said the suspects had arrived from Tawau in eastern Malaysia.

"We are still investigating this case to determine whether the four suspects have links with previous bombings including Bali," he said.

Sitompul said police were also searching for a man he identified only by his initials A.M., whom he described as "the owner of those explosive materials."

T.E.