Indonesian Police Raid Soeharto Residence for Fugitive "Tommy"Some 80 policemen spent two hours on Tuesday searching for Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra in the Soeharto family's residences in central Jakarta but failed to find the fugitive, the youngest son of former President Soeharto."The second search was conducted at the former first family's houses, including that of former President Soeharto," chief of the Jakarta Police's detective unit and Senior Superintendent Harry Montolalu was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. Montolalu said the police received information that Tommy was somewhere in the family complex in central Jakarta's elite Menteng area due to his father's illness. He said the police were scheduled to search for Tommy in 18 different places, including six houses at Jalan Cendana and Jalan Yusuf Adiwinata where Tommy's sisters and brothers live. "After I checked the entire complex, I believed he is not here, " Montolalu told reporters. He said that starting Tuesday until Tommy is found, the police will deploy 20 personnel every day to guard the area. Tommy has been sentenced by the Supreme Court to serve 18 months in jail for corruption over a land swap deal with the State Logistics Agency that caused to the state financial losses of US$11 million. He went missing after his appeal for pardon was rejected by President Abdurrahman Wahid on November 2. Early last week, the police searched Soeharto's houses and Tommy's house, but did not find Tommy. Last Friday, police detectives widened their searching to a number of sites, including some of the country's popular resort islands such as Bali, Batam, Lombok and the Thousand Islands right up to the East Kalimantan- Malaysia border. The Indonesian police are also seeking help from the International Police to catch the fugitive. |
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