The Jakarta Globe, December 27, 2012
West Jakarta district Police officers shot dead two suspects and arrested five others related to a violent robbery case at the Mega Kebon Jeruk housing complex last week. The suspects were apparently working together with maids who worked in the targeted house to carry out their plan.
There was about one crime registered about every minute so far this year, National Police deputy chief detective Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said on Wednesday.
“Every one minute, there is one crime taking place,” Saud said during a discussion at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in Jakarta.
He said that the actual average for the year was one crime every minute and 31 seconds.
Saud said that in 2012, there were some 316,500 crimes recorded, but the police only managed to solve 53 percent of the cases.
These crimes, Saud said, consisted of 304,835 conventional cases, 7,171 transnational crimes, 3,844 crimes against state wealth and another 650 various other crimes.
Regarding corruption, police dealt with 600 cases in 2012 and recovered Rp 250 billion ($26 million) in state losses.
Jakarta Police general crimes director Sr. Comr. Toni Hermanto said that violent robberies dominated criminal cases in Jakarta in 2012. The most common crimes involved robberies targeting bank customers and gas stations’ money.
“Robbery with violence dominated the types of crimes we recorded during the 2012 Sikat Jaya Operation,” said Toni last week, referring to a police operation this year. “Cases that targeted bank customers and gas stations were on the rise.”
Toni said that despite the increasing number of cases of violent robbery, the police have also been able to solve more cases.
“From those incidents, there was an increase [in cases of violent robberies] over the past two months. But in terms of solving the cases, we’ve also seen an increase,” he said.
Sr. Comr Yosi Haryoso, head of Jakarta Police Public Guidance division, said that police have told gas stations to ask for police protection when they deposit their money in the banks. He added that in the most recent robbery case, the gas-station owner did not ask for protection from the police.
When asked whether gas-station owners’ refusal to seek police protection was an indication that they didn’t trust the police, Yosi denied it.
“It’s not that they don’t trust [the police]. It’s just that when our people want to take money they just take it. So, it’s not a matter of trust. We’ve already informed the gas stations, including the owners,” he said.
Data show that violent robbery dominated the types of criminal cases investigated during the 2012 Sikat Jaya Operation, with 142 cases. The Jakarta Police criminal division recorded 3 cases, Central Jakarta Police district 15 cases, North Jakarta Police district 19 cases, West Jakarta Police district 24 cases, South Jakarta Police district 27 cases, East Jakarta Police district 19 cases, Tangerang Police district 13 cases, Depok Police district 12 cases, Bekasi Police district 9 cases and the port security police unit (KP3) 1 case.
With regard to last week’s armed robbery in Kebon Jeruk, the police shot two of the suspects, killing one of them.
“We managed to catch seven people, two were shot, one was shot in the chest and died and the other in the leg. They had to be taken down because they tried to fight back during the arrest at the Merak port in Banten when [they] headed to Lampung to sell their ill-gotten goods,” said West Jakarta chief of detectives AKBP Hengki Haryadi on Sunday.
Hengki said the perpetrators equipped themselves with two units of assembled firearms, folding knives, three toy guns, sticky tape, masks, and gloves. They also surveyed the area twice and received information regarding the situation of the house from a housemaid named Septi. They went to the crime scene using a minivan.
Hengki added that the suspects arrived at the location at 7.30 p.m. and were let in by another maid called Yuli, who opened the gate for them.
“The perpetrators entered the victims’ house, tied up the house owner [Yunus], two children and other maids [who weren’t involved]. They forced the victim to tell them where he kept his valuable goods while pointing a gun at him and hit him,” said Hengki.
The perpetrators managed to get away with a safe that contained jewelry, valuable documents and cash. The victim suffered a total loss of Rp 120 million.
Closed-circuit TV recording at the victim’s house showed that before the suspects took the valuable goods, one of the robbers poured gasoline on the victim. Hengki said that the group seemed quite brutal and professional.
“They are quite brutal in carrying out their crime. The victim was hit and covered with gasoline as they threatened to set him ablaze if he refused to tell them where he kept the safe.”
The police detected something odd when the victim filed a report after the incident and detained Yuli, who had not escaped.
“After investigating the irregularity, we immediately apprehended Yuli for intensive questioning. Based on her information, it was revealed that it had been planned. We then apprehended Septi at Soekarno-Hatta [International] Airport. A day later, at around 5 p.m., we arrested suspects Tri Yulianto, also known as Tri, and Rohman, aka Tole, in Merak, Banten, who were going to Lampung to sell the stolen goods,” said Hengki.
The West Jakarta police arrested Nanang Sutanto, Bakat Santoso and Suriyanto, and the remaining pieces of evidence on Friday. “Tri and Rohman had to be shot in the chest, while Nanang was shot in the leg.”
Hengki said that based on the suspects’ confession, they had committed similar crimes more than 25 times in Jakarta and other areas.
“We would like to call on the public to be careful in hiring maids or baby sitters because the criminals are part of a syndicate that works with maids. One of the suspects is the son in law of an institution that places house maids. We’re still digging more information on what else he’s involved in,” said Hengki.
Separately, the Jakarta Police foiled an attempted rape last week by a customer against a female night club employee.
The suspect, who was identified as Leo Utama Putra, took the victim, R, to his apartment in South Jakarta on Saturday.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Heryawan, head of the city police’s mobile unit, said that Leo attempted to force R to have sex with him by threatening her with an airsoft gun.
“We arrested one suspect by the name of Leo Utama Putra related to case 335 [misconduct coupled with threats] at the Bona Vista Apartments,” Herry told reporters on Sunday.
Herry said that the suspect, who is a customer at a karaoke house where the victim worked, called the victim and invited her to go out to dinner.
“But instead of taking her to dinner, the victim was brought to the Bona Vista Apartments. Initially they were only chatting, but then the suspect asked R to have sex with him,” he added.
Herry said that when the victim refused, the suspect pointed the gun at her and threatened her.
“The suspect took out his gas gun and threatened the victim because she turned him down. But the victim still refused and called her boyfriend PLP to get some help,” he said.
Herry said that PLP filed a report at the Jakarta Police headquarters and officers immediately apprehended the suspect at the location.
Earlier this month, Jakarta Police also arrested two suspects who specialized in robbing customers at banks with the initials AA and IS in Bekasi.
“There are still four more on the wanted list with initials AS, WN, IR, and JM. They are still being chased,” said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto last week.
do 27 dec 2012 - 18:37