F.E.A.R : FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL

A Bomb scare in Puteri UMNO operation room turned out to be rolls of twin wrapping paper which were placed in a waist pouch on a table.

PERMATANG PAUH BY-ELECTION: Obejct in puteri umno room not a bomb, say police

sun2surf/Bernama

BUKIT MERTAJAM, (Aug 24, 2008) : At the height of the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election, an object that resembled a bomb was found in the operations room of Puteri Umno in Jalan Tanah Liat, near here, last night.

The incident which occurred at about midnight, had resulted in traffic congestion in both directions along Jalan Tanah Liat as a police team comprising personnel from the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), traffic branch, special unit and the Bomb Detection Unit closed the area near the operations room to carry out an investigation.

The police bomb disposal unit this morning confirmed that the object concerned was not a bomb but four rolls of twin wrapping paper which were placed in a waist pouch on a table in the Puteri Umno operations room.

The Permatang Pauh By-Election Police Media Relations Officer, Supt Shaharon Anuar Abdul Latif said: "The four rolls of paper were tied to a bottle containing spirit, which is an inflammable liquid, and looks like a bomb."

The irresponsible act was believed to be an attempt to scare the election workers in the Puteri Umno operations room, he said at a press conference, here today.

Shaharon Anuar said the Bomb Disposal Unit destroyed the object, and police were now carrying out further investigation on the matter.

Meanwhile, Puteri Umno head Datuk Noraini Ahmad, who was at the operations room early this morning, said this was the first case that a (fake) bomb was planted in an attempt to sabotage the efforts of Puteri Umno in helping the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah in his campaign.

The by-election on Tuesday will see a three-cornered fight between Arif Shah, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia president Hanafi Mamat.

Noraini said the incident had "inspired us to continue to assist the BN and we are puzzled why this irresponsible group wants to scare women in the BN."

Meanwhile, Wanita Umno vice-head Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said at a press conference here that the room of the Wanita Umno information head, Datin Paduka Seripah Noli Syed Hussin, at the Summit Hotel near here, had been broken into and two laptop computers belonging to Wanita Umno which contained important information on the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election were also missing.

Expressing regret at the incident which occurred at about 2am today, she said: "I believe it has to something to do with politics because they only took the laptops whereas other items and money were not taken."

"They are hard-pressed for information and know that Wanita Umno have done their work in gathering information on the by-election," she told reporters after visiting the Wanita Umno operations room at Taman Pauh, here.

Shahrizat said a police report on the theft had been made and hoped that the suspect could be tracked down immediately.