Air Force sergeant held for 'killing'
JAKARTA (JP): The police arrested last night an Air Force first sergeant for allegedly killing a woman whose dismembered body was found in a fishpond in Pondok Ranggon, East Jakarta, on Saturday.
Chief of the East Jakarta Police precinct Lt. Col. Sjahrir Kuba told The Jakarta Post last night that his team of detectives arrested the Air Force officer, identified only as First Sgt. Luk, at 9:30 p.m. at a security post near Halim Airbase in East Jakarta.
Sjahrir said the suspect did not resist arrest. He was detained at the East Jakarta Police headquarters.
Sjahrir said the victim had been identified as Chairanti, alias Butet, 25, a resident of Bintara Jaya housing complex in West Bekasi.
"There was an indication that they had had an affair," he added.
The police found earlier yesterday seven human body parts in Halim Perdanakusuma, East Jakarta. The body parts were confirmed as belonging to Chairanti, though her mutilated body was found 10 km away in Pondok Ranggon.
The seven pieces were found wrapped in five plastic bags in bushes 200 meters from a runway at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force base.
The body parts, consisting of a head, right arm, two hands, two feet and the lower part of the right leg, were located about five meters from the fence of the base complex.
The pieces were immediately removed by officers of the East Jakarta police precinct.
No details were available on who first discovered the body parts or who informed the police about the discovery.
The body parts were immediately sent to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital yesterday evening for postmortem examination.
Budi Sampurna, one of the hospital's forensic experts, confirmed yesterday that the seven body parts were part of the unidentified female body found in Pondok Ranggon.
He said, however, no information was available yet on the way the woman was killed.
City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said earlier yesterday that police still had not found significant clues to uncover the mystery of the hideous murder.
"So far, three families have tried to identify the victim at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital," he said.
Aritonang also said that the police were still working on the first mutilated body case, in which a body was cut into 12 pieces and found in Tangerang on June 21.
"We are doing the best we can. Both cases are being handled thoroughly. There is a slight chance that these cases could be solved from leads gained from witnesses and forensic results... but of course if the killer made mistakes, it would be advantageous to us," he said. (edt/ivy)