31 foreigners netted in Glodok discotheque raid

31 foreigners netted in Glodok discotheque raid

JAKARTA (JP): National Police officers rounded up 31
foreigners during a midnight raid at popular discotheque Raja Mas
in Glodok, West Jakarta, for failing to show complete travel
documents, an officer said on Friday.

Sr. Supt. Saleh Saaf from the National Police's information
unit said detectives assigned in Wednesday's operation, which was
called a routine sweep, was also implemented to search for
suspects connected to the Aug. 1 bombing in front of the
residence of Philippine Ambassador Leonides T. Caday in Central
Jakarta.

"The police also questioned the detained foreigners over the
bomb blast since there was a possibility that foreign parties
might have been involved in the bombing," he said.

Saleh, however, did not give any further details on the
results of the interrogations of the 31 foreigners. The police
questioned four Filipinos, 20 Malaysians, three Hong Kong
nationals, two Brunei citizens, a Singaporean and a Thai.

The officer said the foreigners were rounded up while they
were enjoying themselves in the Raja Mas discotheque, one of the
largest nightspots in the capital.

The foreigners were released from the National Police
Headquarters at about 5 p.m. on Thursday after they were
questioned for several hours and showed complete and valid
documents of their presence in the country to the officers, Saleh
said.

"The police investigators freed them later after they were
able to provide complete documents, such as a residence permit or
KITAS, registration certificate for temporary residents and
police registration (SKLD)," he said.

Two people were killed and 21 others injured, including the
Philippine envoy, in the devastating bomb blast.

The raid, led by Asst. Supt. Wibhiyanto from the National
Police's supervision unit for foreigners, disappointed Jakarta
Police chief Insp. Gen. Nurfaizi, a reliable source at Nurfaizi's
office said.

"The National Police have (again) gone beyond their
jurisdiction, since they raided a discotheque without informing
us first," Nurfaizi was quoted as saying by the police source,
who asked for anonymity.

According to the source, his superior, Nurfaizi, a former
National Police spokesman, was upset with the raid since no one
from the National Police team informed him about the raid in the
Chinatown business area of Glodok.

In May, a similar situation erupted between National Police
and Jakarta Police officers when detectives from the National
Police Headquarters raided street traders of pirated VCDs in the
area, a short walk from the Raja Mas discotheque.

Nurfaizi and his top aides publicly explained that they had no
idea of the move and were not informed about the raid, which
later ended with several shops damaged and gutted in Glodok. The
area is under the jurisdiction of the Jakarta Police.

It is no longer a secret that Glodok has become a gold mine
for corrupt police and military officers and city officials for
collecting extra money from operators of gambling dens, massage
parlors, discotheques and distributors or big suppliers of
pirated VCDs and CDs.

Nurfaizi could not be reached for comment but officer Saleh
from the National Police rejected the accusation, saying that
they had informed the city police headquarters over the raid at
Raja Mas.

"An intelligence officer at West Jakarta Police even took part
in it," he said. (asa)