T

unneling to escape or a tattoo of the plan of the prison as a map to freedom is unnecessary when dressing up as a veiled woman can do the trick.

Roki Apris Dianto, who had served less than a year of his 6-year jail term for terrorism, was reported missing at the Jakarta Police detention center on Tuesday.

In a press conference held at police headquarters in South Jakarta on Wednesday, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Suhardi Alius said investigators suspected that Roki had sneaked out from the detention center by wearing a burqa — the face-covering veil and long dress worn by Muslim women — to fool the guards.

They assumed that Roki fled at about 1:30 p.m. during the visiting hours scheduled for every Tuesday. When visiting time ended at 3 p.m., the police noticed that Roki was not in his cell although he had received no visitors that day.

“We assume that the prisoner blended in with women visitors — some of whom wore burqas — when he escaped from the detention center,” Suhardi told reporters.

According to Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Sudjarno, Roki’s cell was on the fourth floor of the detention center. The facilities were under tight surveillance when he escaped, he added.

Sudjarno said that all visitors were required to hand in their ID cards prior to entering the facility, which were guarded by 13 police officers, three of which were members of Densus 88.

According to him, an officer led all the inmates, who had visitors, from their cells to the visiting room.

“The incident was caused by negligence, and we are currently questioning the police officers,”
Sudjarno said.

He said that the police were still searching for Roki and investigating the escape to see whether he received the burqa from one of the visitors.

“It is possible that he knew some of the visitors who came,” Sudjarno said. “There were 23 visitors yesterday and the police are currently questioning them.”

According to Sudjarno, the incident has prompted the police to review the standard operating procedures of the detention center security.

“We will evaluate the security system to prevent any similar incident in the future,” he said.

He said that 70 terrorist convicts are jailed at the detention center at the Jakarta Police headquarters, waiting to be sent to prisons.

Roki was sentenced a 6-year term in prison in November 2011 for leading a terrorist group in Klaten, Central Java. The group plotted several bomb attacks including at three at police posts and two at churches in Klaten in December 2010.

Five other group members, namely Yudo Anggoro, Nugroho Budi Santoso, Tri Budi Santoso, Joko Lelono and Agung Jati Santoso, were sentenced to a 5 years each.

Media reports said that Roki was also linked to Nurdin M. Top, who was blamed for suicide bomb attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta in 2009.

The escape is not the first of its kind.

In 2008, the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah network, Mas Selamat Kastari, escaped from a detention center in Singapore, after being arrested by officers on Bintan Island in 2006.

The Indonesian-born Singaporean, who was revealed as the mastermind behind a plan to attack Changi Airport in Singapore, reportedly escaped during visiting time at the detention center. (nad)