Jakarta – Tommy Suharto, the fugitive son of Indonesia's former dictator, has offered to surrender to face questioning over the murder of a senior judge and other alleged crimes, the Jakarta police chief said Friday.

Sofyan Yacub said he was confident Tommy would hand himself in based on a letter to police from his eldest sister Tutut, received Thursday afternoon.

"Mrs Tutut said Tommy called her at 7am last Tuesday and said he would surrender and he requested a guarantee of security from me," Yacub told reporters.

"So Tutut wrote to me asking for protection and said the family would hand Tommy over as soon as he comes to the family." Yacub said he was optimistic that Tommy would surrender and would be brought to police headquarters by his family, adding that he would "fully guarantee" his security.

Police have launched an intensive manhunt for Tommy after accusing him Monday of ordering the July 26 killing of Syaifuddin Kartasasmita, the Supreme Court judge who sentenced him to 18 months' jail last year for a land scam.

They say two suspects claim to have shot Kartasasmita on Tommy's orders and received 10,000 dollars in payment from the former millionaire playboy, who has been in hiding for nine months to avoid going to jail.

Police have also linked Tommy to a series of bombings in Jakarta in recent months, after discovering a cache of arms and explosives in separate raids last Saturday and Monday on an apartment and house he allegedly used.

Police have summoned Tutut, another sister Titiek, and Tommy's wife Tata for questioning to see if they know anything about the judge's murder.

"We have been told by witnesses and suspects that they knew about plans to murder him and we want to check that information with them," Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam told AFP.

Tutut, the eldest daughter of Suharto who resigned in May 1998 after 32 years, arrived Friday morning for questioning at Jakarta police headquarters.

National police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said police were continuing the manhunt despite the family's promise to hand over Tommy. "We're not pinning everything on Tutut's letter," he told reporters at the presidential palace.

"We're still undertaking many other efforts which for technical reasons I cannot outline right now. We are questioning the family today but that's not all we're doing. We are optimistic and we will continue to hunt for him." Alam said Tommy would be shot if he tried to escape when located by police. "As a criminal who is armed and dangerous, we would automatically shoot to hamper him but not to kill," he said.

Alam said police had raided three homes in a south Jakarta suburb belonging to Tommy's friends and were continuing to search other friends' homes Friday.