Owner of van used in Bali bomb arrested, say police

6.00pm

SURABAYA, Indonesia - Indonesian police today said they had arrested the owner of a minivan used in a car bomb attack on the resort island of Bali last month that killed more than 180 people.

East Java police chief Heru Susanto said the man was suspected of having links to the attack on October 12.

"A man has been arrested who is suspected of having links to the blast in Bali... He is the last owner of the L-300 (minivan)," Susanto told reporters in the East Java capital of Surabaya, where the man is being questioned.

Susanto did not elaborate on why police determined the suspect was the owner of the van. Susanto also did not say if the man was Indonesian or where he had been arrested.

The van had been parked outside a packed nightclub that was destroyed in the blast. Most of the victims were foreign holidaymakers. Three New Zealanders were killed in the blast.

Police have circulated sketches of three men they say are Indonesians who may have planned or perpetrated the Bali attack. It was unclear if the arrested man was suspected of being one of those.

Police in the city of Medan, on Sumatra island, said yesterday they had arrested a man who resembled one of the men in the sketches as he tried to leave the country on a false passport the day before.

- REUTERS

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