The bombing at the Mall @ Alam Sutera in Tangerang on Wednesday was the second bombing in the mall in five months, leading some to suspect that the attacks had some connection to terrorism organizations, including ISIS.
But it turns out that the bombing suspect, who was arrested yesterday at his home by anti-terrorism unit Densus 88, was a “lone wolf” who was not working with anybody else and his motive was not political, but financial.
Police have identified 29-year-old Leopard Vishnu Kumala as the bombing suspect. They say Leopard’s scheme was to try and extort Rp 300 million from the manager of Mall @ Alam Sutera through emailed bomb threats.
“The suspect wanted to commit extortion. He has acknowledged that he needed money, and so to commit his extortion scheme he learned from the internet, got the idea and plan to terrorize [the mall],” said Jakarta Police Commissioner Krishna Murti on Thursday as quoted by Detik.
Authorities say that Leopard is an IT expert who was able to make his e-mails untraceable. He also asked that the Rp 300 million be sent to him in the form of Bitcoins, a digital cryptocurrency that is essentially untraceable to government institutions.
