INTERVIEW - Suspected Marriott bomber seemed "cool and calm"

Policemen stand guard outside JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta July 20, 2009.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - They were cool, calm and collected, paid cash and thought fast on their feet. That is the profile of the suicide bombers in last week's Jakarta hotel attacks that security experts have compiled.

Alan Orlob, Marriott International's vice president of corporate security, said on Thursday his team had just got back hotel CCTV footage from police that showed one of the suspected attackers appeared calm when he entered the Marriott last Friday.

"The guy came in through the inspection station and he seemed very cool and calm, didn't seem to be nervous or anything," said Orlob, who was staying at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton which is part of the Marriott group on the morning of the attack.

"He put his bag on the table to be inspected, but he was only carrying the one bag," he added.

Closed-circuit television footage aired on Indonesian television showed the suspect later strolling across the hotel's lounge towing a small suitcase with a backpack strapped to his chest. Moments later, he activated an improvised explosive device in the backpack, killing himself and five others.

A few minutes later, an accomplice set off another device in a restaurant at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton hotel, killing himself and two others. The twin blasts injured more than 50, many of them foreigners.

A laptop bag with an undetonated bomb was later found in the room the first suicide-bomber is believed to have stayed in, police said.

The second bomber, at the Ritz-Carlton, had given his room as 2701 in a hotel with only 26 floors when being seated for breakfast. He appeared to think on his feet when a member of staff said she would have to confirm his room on the hotel computer.

"He said 'no, no, no. I'm meeting a friend for breakfast. We'll just pay cash,'" said Orlob. The man is believed to have set off a bomb he was carrying soon afterward.

CODE RED ALERT

Security at two luxury hotels in Jakarta -- popular with business executives and diplomats and considered to be among the most secure buildings in the capital -- will be reviewed, Orlob said.

Orlob said that the level of security at both the Marriott, which was also attacked in 2003, and the Ritz-Carlton was already at a maximum red level.

"Under threat condition red, we have about 40 procedures which includes we stop every vehicle and screen it, everybody goes through a walk-through metal detector, all luggage is screened," said Orlob, who was previously with U.S. special forces.

Orlob said the hotel vetted security staff working for them. He added that a suspect police have named as Ibrahim, a florist working at the Ritz Carlton, was not employed by the hotel.

Media reports say Ibrahim had disappeared since the attacks.

Orlob said that the suspected Marriott bomber had paid cash in advance for his room.

"He made the reservation at what we call the benchmark rate, $140 a night. And when he checked in, he paid cash in advance which is pretty common here. Here probably 20 percent of our customers pay cash," he added.

Orlob said he understood that the ID card of the suspect was not immediately photocopied on check-in because the copy machine was working slowly and staff asked him to come back later. He never did.

Reports suggested the suspect may have used components from the TV in his room to make the bomb, but that seemed unlikely, he said.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense if they would pull components off the TV. They've already got, obviously, somehow the explosives."

EVOLVING SECURITY MEASURES

Bill Marriott, the CEO of the hotel group, said on his blog (www.blogs.marriott.com) after the attacks that the two hotels in Jakarta did not appear structurally damaged and that he hoped to reopen them as soon as they were confirmed safe.

Orlob said it was difficult to ever fully secure a hotel.

"Because as we put in security these guys are constantly evolving their tactics. Look what happened at Mumbai. That was a complete evolution of tactics," he added.

"But saying that, as they evolve their tactics we evolve our security procedures too. And we're looking at what's happened here and we're looking if anything needs to be changed and if it does we'll change it," he added.

Militants have been targeting luxury hotels the past several years, including in Mumbai last November as well as in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.