Attempt to poison Vice-President suspected

Vigilant security officers have found a substance suspected to be arsenic in soup that was to be served to Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla.

Antonius Reniban, chief police spokesman on Bali, said the soup had been prepared for Kalla while he was attending an event in Bali for the powerful Golkar Party, whose chairmanship he will seek during a vote on Sunday. "We suspect it contains arsenic. The Vice-President's [security] team found it," Reniban said.

"The first finding indicated it contains 0.1 milligrams of that substance per litre. We do not know if it is accurate and whether it is deadly or not."

He said the substance was detected in the soto, a traditional Indonesian soup, on Wednesday, but gave no further details.

Dino Patti Djalal, a spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said while he could not confirm the incident, checking food prepared for the President and his deputy was standard procedure.

It is the second case of suspected arsenic poisoning in Indonesia in recent months, following the death of a human rights activist on a flight to Amsterdam in September. Police are investigating that case.

- REUTERS