Suharto son wanted for $54,000

Police have been trying to catch Tommy for months

Indonesian police hunting for the fugitive youngest son of former dictator President Suharto have increased the reward for information on his whereabouts to $54,000 (50 million rupiah).

It is a huge leap from the $2,700 on offer before, and came as President Megawati Sukarnoputri ordered police to step up their efforts.

The president has ordered the national police chief and the Jakarta police to resolve this problem and to immediately arrest Tommy

Presidential aide

Tommy Suharto has not been seen since he failed to turn himself in to begin serving an 18-month sentence for fraud on 3 November last year.

Now police want to question him about a series of bomb attacks and the murder of a judge.

Police have publicly accused Tommy of masterminding the drive-by shooting last month of the supreme court judge, Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who sentenced him to jail.

Thousands of wanted posters were dropped from the air

The judge was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle in broad daylight. Police said on Tuesday that two men had been arrested in connection with the murder.

According to police, the two suspects said Tommy paid them $10,800 to kill the judge.

"The president has ordered the national police chief and the Jakarta police to resolve this problem and to immediately arrest Tommy because he has been convicted," presidential aide Bambang Kesowo told reporters.

Raids

Police helicopters have been dropping thousands of wanted posters in the capital Jakarta, showing a picture of Tommy with a beard, which they said he had used for a fake ID under the name Ibrahim.

Police say Tommy owned the murder weapon

As well as the $53,750 reward being offered by the police, the governor of Jakarta is offering a reward of $107,500 (one billion rupiah).

A Jakarta police spokesman said police raided five homes belonging to Tommy's family late on Tuesday, including the home of the former president.

"Mr Suharto was sitting reading the papers," said Anton Bachrul Alam. "He told us to go ahead.

"The family were very co-operative."

The raid followed an earlier one on a home in Jakarta's Menteng district on Saturday night. Police said they found a stash of arms and explosives and arrested 10 people.

The president's aide also said she was "worried and concerned" about a series of bomb attacks. The latest was on Tuesday in the East Java capital of Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, in which a woman was killed.