Posted December. 29, 2002 22:44,
The Namdaemun Police Station, which is conducting a probe into the "CJ bombing case," made public the profile of the suspect in this case on Saturday. One day, an employee of CJ Entertainment, Inc. received a parcel, which blew off upon opening. As of yesterday, the police station began to work on analysis of videotapes that were located at three post offices in Guro-gu, Seoul, where the suspect supposedly shipped the package.
▽ Currently status = On Saturday, the police put on the wanted list as the suspect in the CJ bombing case a man in 30s using the Jeolla province dialect, standing 175cm. Then, the station has distributed 3,000 copies of a leaflet containing this information nationwide.
The suspect allegedly bought a homeless man for 80,000 won (approximately $60) and opened a bank account using the ID of the man. The authorities made out the leaflet based on the statement of the homeless man and the suspect`s voice recorded during the phone conversation demanding a "ransom," with the employees of the CJ Entertainment.
Noting that the postmark on the bomb package delivered on December 27 was that of Guro-gu, the authorities have confiscated the security camera tapes of three post offices in the area, and are scrutinizing them to find a person matching the description of the suspect.
The police also announced that CJ Entertainment had transferred \5 million into the account opened in the name of the homeless man as a decoy in the mid-December. Now the police are trying to figure out whether anyone has ever tried to withdraw the money out of the account through ATM or teller.
▽Future investigation= The authorities focus on the scenario that personal hatred or grudge against the company or concerning promotion may have instigated the suspect to commit the crime.
The investigation team, however, did not exclude the possibility that a former solder with special military background sent the explosive. The authorities point to the facts that the ransom demanded was small and, without special military training, the bomb used is not possible to make.
One official involved in the investigation confirmed yesterday, "After we made the profile public, a person called in and tipped us about a former special force member who is now financially stripped. Now we are working on the tip-off."
▽Beefed-up security= Security around CJ Entertainment and CGV Cinema Complex has been beefed up.
The police have deployed detectives to the offices of CJ Entertainment and CGV located in Namdaemun 5 Ga in Jung-gu. The detectives are scanning every package that comes into the offices. In addition, police SWAT teams handling explosives scrutinized 4 CGV buildings in Seoul to secure the safety of the buildings.
CGV itself has also taken some measures to insure the safety. It has elongated the interval between each run from 10 minutes to 20-25 minutes, and its own security officers are conducting security checks. Furthermore, the number of officers has been increased by 2-3 times.
CGV said, "After the bombing, our weekend customers were decreased by 3%. Overall, however, our business has not been affected."
In the meanwhile, the Seoul Police Department has set up a task force on Saturday, and has the team deployed to the Namdaemun Police Station.