The Bali Police brought in a visiting Dutch national on Tuesday for questioning after his passport was found inside a bag containing a low-explosive device in the popular tourist district of Ubud.
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Mark Aart underwent questioning at Ubud Police precinct shortly after the authorities managed to safely detonate a low-explosive bomb found in a bag that was left unattended in front of a food stall in Kedewatan subdistrict.
Inside the bag, the police also found Aart’s passport.
(Read also: Bali Police on alert after small bomb found in Ubud)
Ubud Police chief Adj. Comr. I Nyoman Wirajaya, however, said the police had ruled out the possibility that Aart was involved in the incident as the man had earlier reported that he lost his bag when he had breakfast in an Ubud restaurant.
Wirajaya suspected that the perpetrator had intentionally stolen a foreigner’s bag to mislead law enforcers.
“Aart was only questioned as he was the bag’s owner. He had earlier reported that he lost the same bag,” Wirajaya said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.
The police, Wirajaya added, let Aart take his passport upon completing the questioning.
In 2002, a group of people linked to extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah launched bombing attacks in Bali that killed 202 people. Three years later, a series of suicide bombings on the resort island by terrorists claimed the lives of 20 people and injured more than 100 others. (hwa)
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