Bomb Squad Sweeps Cathedral Church

Security in the Cathedral Church, Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, will be tightened ahead of Easter Eve and Good Friday celebrations. As many as 250 personnel from Sawah Besar Sector Police are deployed to anticipate security disturbance. And before the Easter Mass started, 10 City Police Bomb Squad (Jihandak) personnel will sweep the church to anticipate bomb threat from irresponsible people.

The sweeping will be conducted an hour before the mass started. The bomb squad will use metal detector and dogs in searching for bomb

“ The sweeping will be conducted an hour before the mass started. The bomb squad will use metal detector and dogs in searching for bomb ,” stated Sawah Besar Sector Police Chief Comr. Shinto Silitonga, Thursday (4/17).

The 250 personnel are policemen from City Police Sabhara (rapid response unit) and bomb squad, Central Jakarta Resort Police, and Sawah Besar Sector Police.

10,000 Policemen Ready to Secure Easter Celebrations

“There are 80 personnel from Citra Bhayangkara (the police), 10 personnel from Satpol PP, 95 personnel from the church’s internal security, and Koramil (Rayon Military Command) also supports,” he detailed.

According to Silitonga, the security patterns in Cathedral Church are applied in three spots, namely inside, outside, and the parking lots. Thus, all security personnel will be free to watch any movement from suspicious people.

“Mugging, thievery with modus of breaking car windows, until traffic accident often happened during religious celebration. We’ll anticipate those things,” he stressed.

Besides doing security measures, Silitonga continued, his party also has prepared some parking areas for the pilgrims, such as in Istiqlal Mosque, Indonesian Post Office, Religious Ministry building, Banteng Field, and Santa Ursula School.

“In addition, we’re also preparing parking lot in the Indonesian Army Supplies and Transportation office. So, pilgrims’ vehicles could be accommodated,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cathedral Church security coordinator, Thomas Bambang, explained that his party has conducted various preparations ahead of Easter Mass this year. Among those preparations are increasing security measures and placing security personnel on guard at two entrances of the church.

“The amount of pilgrims having worship during Easter Eve and Good Friday could reach 6,000 people. There are only two entrances here and we placed personnel to safeguard there,” he informed.