12 people questioned over taxi robberies

12 people questioned over taxi robberies

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police have questioned at least 12
people allegedly involved in recent incidents of taxi drivers
robbing passengers in the city, an official said Saturday.

Deputy chief of city police detectives Lt. Col. Bakat Purwanto
told The Jakarta Post that police ran a special operation to
anticipate the growing taxi-passenger robberies.

Of the 12 questioned, seven have been named as suspects, Bakat
said.

"In the operation, we put plainclothes officers on alert for
any possible criminals involved in these taxi robberies."

In June and July alone, the police recorded 21 taxi robberies
in Greater Jakarta.

"Out of that 21, five robberies happened to expatriates,"
Bakat added.

The latest taxi-passenger robbery which involved a foreigner
occurred early in the morning of July 26, when Frenchman Phillips
M. took an airport cab shortly after his arrival from Balikpapan,
East Kalimantan at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

"It was about 3 a.m. The French national asked the driver to
take him to the Sofyan hotel on Jl. Samanhudi, Central Jakarta,"
South Jakarta Police detective chief Maj. Rycko Almeza Daniel,
recalled.

On the way to the hotel, the driver changed direction and took
Phillips to somewhere in Jagakarsa, in the southern part of the
capital.

"At a point in that area, the taxi driver suddenly pulled over
and two men got into the cab. They covered the passenger's eyes
and mouth. Philip tried to fight back but the robbers injured his
left hand with a knife," Rycko said.

He was then taken to a house and the robbers took Rp 1 million
and US$250 and his ATM cards.

"Then Phillips was put back in the taxi and they abandoned him
on a road in Jagakarsa."

City police have reportedly captured a suspect in this
incident but have refused to give further details.

"Wait for further developments," said a detective.

Earlier this month, city police arrested three of four
suspects wanted in the murder of a Japanese national in a taxi
robbery in January. (edt)