11 Serpong villagers arrested for looting
11 Serpong villagers arrested for looting
JAKARTA (JP): Tangerang police detectives have busted 11
Sarimulya villagers in Serpong for allegedly being involved in
the recent looting of thousands of livestock and the burning of
the animals' byres.
"All of the suspects are still under intensive investigation
as we track down the real mastermind (of this incident),"
Tangerang Police chief Lt. Col. Pudji Hartanto Iskandar said on
Thursday.
The officer refused to identify the 11, who were believed to
be among the 600 people who set fire to the pens and stole the
animals belonging to a local farmer named Icon, 46, on Wednesday
evening.
According to the owner, he lost 37 cows, 18 buffaloes, 5,003
ducks and 100 pigs, causing estimated total losses of Rp 500
million (US$55,250).
The mobs dispersed only after a troop of Mobile Brigade and
riot police officers were dispatched to the area.
Pudji said he had assigned a special team to trace the
"intellectual actor" behind the looting as police had learned
that most of the looters were merely followers.
"We have indeed identified the intellectual actor of this
looting," he said, but gave no further explanation.
Antara reported that the incident was sparked by last week's
arrest of two Sarimulya villagers, Uting, 30. and Sido, 36, by
police officers based on a report by Icon, who accused the two of
stealing fish from his pond.
After being questioned, the two were detained for two days but
then released due to the lack of evidence.
After learning about the arrest and the lack of evidence, some
of the local villagers got angry and prepared to teach Icon a
lesson.
The villagers said that they first intended to discuss the
case with Icon but he rejected the idea.
"It might have been Icon's refusal that sparked the incident,"
commented villager Mulyadi, 25.
Looting of farms and ponds has become more frequent in
Tangerang during this time of hardship.
On July 13, for example, about 1.5 tons of shrimps were stolen
from ponds in the area by about 2,000 people. It caused an
estimated Rp 180 million in losses.
In the week after the incident, police questioned 80 villagers
before finally naming four people as suspects: two as
provocateurs and the other two as looters.
On July 25, the police shot dead an alleged shrimp looter for
resisting arrest and arrested two others at a shrimp pond.
The two other suspects, identified as Surya, 46, and Tagwid,
40, were captured when trying to escape with about 25 kilograms
of shrimps.
The officers also confiscated the boat, a fishing net, a
sickle and shrimps wrapped in plastic bags. (bsr)