All-clear after Indonesia central bank bomb threat

JAKARTA, Feb 19 (Reuters) Indonesia's central bank complex in the capital was evacuated for several hours today after a bomb threat, but staff were later given the all-clear by police, a central bank official said.

Earlier today, Sandy Januarlin, a Central Jakarta police official, said officers had been searching the building.

''The threat came from a text message at 11.59 (1729 hrs IST) to the police 1717 (emergency) number saying at 15.00 (1330 hrs) all employees at Bank Indonesia will be dead,'' said Januarlin.

Aswin Gantin, a central bank official, said in the late afternoon that staff, many of whom had gathered on a lawn next to the complex, had been allowed back into the building.

''Everything is back to normal, everybody is able to return to their office,'' he said.

The rupiah currency eased slightly today, although a dealer played down any impact from the bomb scare.

''The rupiah weakened today because state banks were buying (dollars) even before that,'' said the dealer at a foreign bank, when asked about the impact of the bomb threat.

There have been several bomb attacks in Jakarta and other parts of the country in recent years, some of them the work of Islamic militants aiming at targets with Western ties. There have also been bomb threats that have proved to be hoaxes.

REUTERS AKJ HS1654