WEDNESDAY · July 25, 2007 · 04:32 PM
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Four foreigners reported missing and feared kidnapped in Indonesia were never in the country and are actually in neighboring Singapore, officials said Wednesday.''It was a false report,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo, adding that police had called in for questioning a woman who initially claimed the foreigners were missing. Officers were investigating her motives, he said.
Indonesia said earlier police were investigating reports that an American, Italian, Singaporean and Japanese were missing in the city of Surabaya after opening a language school there.
However, Legowo said the four had not been in Indonesia.All four are in Singapore, and have been barred from leaving the city state because of an unspecified legal case, said Dedi Prasetyo, the top detective in Surabaya.
Indonesia has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years and there has been speculation that Islamic militants could turn from suicide bombings to kidnappings and assassinations.
