Return to the Scene of the Crime

(10/21/2011)

Umar Patek, the terror suspect arrested in Pakistan in January 2011and returned to Indonesia, was brought to Bali by Indonesian police to Bali on Thursday, October 20, 2011, to visit five locations linked with the 2002 Bali bombing.

Patek, labeled by police as mastermind behind the bombing, was brought to Bali to participate in reconstructions of the events surrounding the October 12, 2002 bombing that claimed 202 lives. Also brought to Bali for the reconstructions were five fellow-terrorists linked to the bombing: Ali Imron, Abdul Ghani, Mubarok, Sawad and Idris – all serving life sentences for their crimes.

Under heavy guard, the reconstructions took places on:

• Jalan Pulau Menjangan in Denpasar where the bombs were assembled and stored.
• The Consulate of the U.S.A. in Denpasar where a bomb was exploded in 2002, without casualties, in an area adjacent to the consulate.
• The Ubung bus station in Denpasar where Idris and Sawad picked up Umar Patek, delivering him to a rented set of rooms on Jalan Gatot Subroto.
• The rented rooms on Jalan Gatot Subroto.
• Ground Zero in Kuta where the bombs killing 202 people were detonated at the Sari Club and Paddy’s Pub.

According to The Bali Post, Umar Patek garnered the lion’s share of public attention during the reenactments. Dressed in a traditional Arabic style and sporting a long beard, crowds jostled for position to see and photograph the Indonesian sought for a decade by international anti-terrorist agencies who had placed a US$1 million price on his head leading to his capture.

The reconstruction, considered intrinsic to every Indonesian criminal prosecution, was guarded by armed police officers and member of the elite Densus 88 anti-terrorist of the national police. Also in attendance was Bali’s chief of police, Inspector General Totoy Herawan Indra.

The grand tour of reconstruction sites commenced at 5:00 a.m. on Jalan Pulau Menjangan in Denpasar at the rooms rented by the men who constructed the bombs and held planning meetings with the now-deceased Amrozy, Iman Samudera and Dr. Azahari. The entourage then moved to the area near the U.S. Consulate on Jalan Hayum Wuruk where Ali Imron furtively exploded a bomb under a roadside tree tossed in haste from his motorcycle. The next stop was the Ubung Bus terminal in Denpasar where Umar Patek was met by the terrorist cell when he first arrived by bus from Java on the island. From the bus station, Patek was escorted to a boarding house on Jalan Gatot Subroto II, Number 11 in Denpasar, which was reportedly rented by the Malaysian terrorist Dr. Azahari - the fourth stop on the journey of reconstruction. In 2001, Pasek eventually shifted to the Jalan Pulau Menjangan location where he set about constructing the bombs.

The last stop on the reconstruction exercise was in the area surrounding “Ground Zero” where the Sari Club and Paddy’s Pub were leveled by a series of suicide bombs exploded in quick succession, killing 202 people. The reenactment focused on the surveillance trips conducted by Ali Imron and Iman Samudera in preparation of the attack by the suicide bombers who, necessarily, were unable to participate in the reconstruction scenes.

After the Bali reconstruction, police brought Patek to Solo, Central Java to re-enact his movements prior to the Bali bombing of 2002.

The Trial Ahead

Speculation is now rife on where exactly Umar Petek will stand trial for his involvement in the Bali bombing of 2002. Conventional legal wisdom suggests that the trial should take place in Bali, the jurisdiction where the actual crime was committed. Other considerations, however, may prompt the government to move the trial to Jakarta.