Police examined a “suspicious package” found in the garden outside the office of Bali’s governor on Tuesday morning, but all that was inside was two containers of drinks.
A series of attacks in East Java has put Bali on high alert, with police on the island closely monitoring the island’s harbors, airport, tourist attractions, places of worship, police stations, and nightclubs.
Understandably, law enforcement has become vigilant to almost paranoid levels, examining any hint of a threat to the fullest. Like a mysterious cardboard box found outside Governor Made Mangku Pastika’s office on Tuesday and a separate case where a veiled woman donning a niqab was hanging out across from Bali Police headquarters with her son on Monday.
On Tuesday morning around 8:15am, a joint team of Bali Police’s bomb squad, K9, and patrol officers investigated the package, wrapped in black plastic, found in the flower garden in front of the governor’s office.
“The x-ray results found that the goods were safe and not (explosive). Once examined, the contents were two packages of drinks,” Bali Police Mobile Brigade Bomb Squad Supt. Dewa Gde Putra Sugawa told Okezone on Tuesday.
After the package was declared clean, police swept around the governor’s office using metal detectors and sniffer dogs to check for any lingering “suspicious items,” but none were to be found.
The package of drinks was first discovered by a police on security duty at the governor’s office on Tuesday morning.
As for the “suspicious” woman hanging out in front of Bali Police headquarters on Monday, Bali Police spokesman Hengky Widjaja told reporters that the woman was brought in for questioning but later released.
“She was just sitting around eating a snack with her child. It’s very natural that people are on alert and informing us in this time, but not everything that is reported really is a threat to security,” Widjaja said on Monday, as quoted by Kumparan.
“Please be sure about the source of the news you’re spreading. If you’re spreading hoax news, it just causes anxiety in the community,” said Widjaja.
Bali Police’s headquarters has seen improved security for the past five days, following a riot in Depok, West Java at the Mobile Brigade Command Detention Center where five officers and one inmate were killed.
“Anyone conducting suspicious activity will be questioned, but if they are not doing anything criminal, they will be released,” Widjaja said.
Reader Interactions