JAKARTA (AP): Police investigating a large cache of bombs found in East Java ruled out any link to a terrorist plot, saying Friday that the high-intensity explosives were produced for use by local fishermen.
Authorities discovered 43 bombs in a house in the East Java town of Pasuruan after one accidentally detonated Wednesday, badly wounding the man who assembled the explosives. The man, identified as Jordan, died of his injuries overnight.
Local police chief Ari Subiyanto said Friday the bombs were "purely for fishing," adding that the family for years had been illegally selling the explosives to anglers in the area.
Subiyanto said Jordan's father died in an accidental blast in 1996 and that his sister lost a hand in an explosion six months ago.
Though dynamite fishing is banned in Indonesia, many fishermen use explosives to catch fish off the country's coast, damaging coral reefs and other marine life.
Indonesia has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks in recent years blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant network Jemaah Islamiyah, and police wanted to make sure Wednesday's find was not part of a plot for more attacks. (**)
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