140 students detained for planning attack
140 students detained for planning attack
JAKARTA (JP): City police detained yesterday about 140 Jakarta
and Bogor high school students for allegedly planning to attack a
private high school in Sukabumi, West Java.
City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro told
reporters that the arrests were made in response to reports about
the planned attack from a driver of the city-owned bus company
PPD.
Bambang said that the students came to PPD's pool on Jl.
Kramat Jati in East Jakarta, asking bus crews to transport them
to Sukabumi, to attack students in Mardiyuwana Senior High
School. Instead of abiding by their request, the crew reported
the case to the police, who immediately came to the site and
arrested the students.
Police also confiscated a number of weapons, including knives,
hammers and chains, from the students.
A police officer, who asked not to be named, said that the
students planned the attack after receiving leaflets which stated
that students of the Mardiyuwana Senior High School had burned
the holy Koran.
City police are still investigating the incident, Bambang
said.
Head of the City Police Directorate of Detectives, Col.
Nurfaizi, said that city police use educative and persuasive
approaches toward students who disturb public order and security.
He appealed to all parties, including parents, teachers and
the public to participate in controlling the students' emotions.
City police will increase its operation against youth
delinquency, especially student brawls, through a special
operation called Kilat Jaya Operation, he disclosed. "The police
will take quick and integrated action against any crimes."
Yesterday's alleged planned attack is the latest in a series
of similar actions taken by students from Jakarta and Bogor over
the last few days.
According city police data, the number of security
disturbances committed by students in the city is on the
increase.
In the first six months of this year alone, 123 cases of
security disturbances were recorded in Jakarta. By comparison,
183 cases were registered in 1994 and only 80 cases in 1993. The
cases consisted of brawls, robberies and acts of torture and
vandalism.
The total number of students arrested by the police, for being
involved in security disturbance this year, reached over 1,500
students, of whom 200 were jailed and another 66 are still
pending trial.
The number of senior high school students in Jakarta is about
350,000, the officer said, adding that security disturbances by
students damaged 172 buses and five school buildings this year.
(29)