JAKARTA, 03 September 2004 - Indonesian police Thursday confirmed that a convicted Bali bomber was allowed to visit a branch of Starbucks in Jakarta, defending the move as a "proper procedure". Ali Imron, who has been sentenced to life for his role the October 2002 attacks which left 202 dead, was spotted relaxing in a cafe in an upmarket city center shopping mall on Wednesday in the company of a senior police officer. The incident is likely to generate outrage among relatives of victims of the blasts, blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah terror network.
"As long as everything was done following the proper procedure and that the security aspect was properly addressed, then we deem that there was nothing wrong with that," National Police Spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman told AFP. He said that Brig. Gen. Gorries Mere, an officer closely involved in investigating the Bali bomb blast in 2002, had taken Imron out as part of his effort "to develop the investigation", but declined to
elaborate further.
Paiman said that Imron, who is serving his life sentence at a Bali Jail, had been fficially "borrowed" by national police for investigative purposes. He said Imron had been moved to Jakarta roughly a month earlier. Mere could not be reached for comment.
Paiman also said that although Imron was seen without handcuffs during his unorthodox public appearance, "there was enough security measure put in place."
Imron is the younger brother of two other key Bali bombers who are now on death row -- Amrozi and Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas. He was among the few who expressed remorse for the bombing. He has also extensively cooperated with the police, providing details
of the entire operation that led to the three separate blasts in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002.
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