Alleged killers of paymaster identified
Alleged killers of paymaster identified
JAKARTA (JP): The two suspects in Wednesday's shooting and
attempted robbery of a bank customer in Central Jakarta have been
identified, but their whereabouts is still unknown.
Col. Adang Rismanto, head of the City Police detectives, said
yesterday that based on thorough investigations the suspects are
believed to be repeat offenders.
According to Adang, the City Police and the Central Jakarta
Police set up joint teams to hunt the two culprits, one of whom
shot Yuswara Sutisna, 41, a paymaster at a private courier firm
who had just withdrawn Rp 20 million (US$8,680) in cash from a
nearby bank.
"The hunting of the two culprits is now our first priority as
ordered by the Jakarta Police Chief," Adang said.
The shooting took place at around 10 a.m. on Jl. Petojo
Enclek, next to the Presidential Guards' headquarters, as
Yuswara, an employee of PT First Indonesia City Courier, arrived
at his office with his driver, Mamin Sunjaya, after withdrawing
the money from the BDNI bank branch in West Jakarta.
The two assailants, riding a motorcycle, are believed to have
followed the victims from the bank.
Just as Yuswara and the driver got out of their car, one of
the robbers jumped off the motorcycle and tried to snatch the bag
from Yuswara, forcing the latter to scream for help.
The robber immediately produced a gun and fired twice into the
air to scare the crowd away and fired another shot at Yuswara
before proceeding to his waiting friend.
The two robbers left the scene empty-handed. The bag was
broken but the money was undisturbed.
Yuswara later died at the nearby Tarakan Hospital.
As of yesterday, police claimed to have no idea about the type
and caliber of the gun used by the suspects.
"Ballistic experts at the National Police Forensic Laboratory
are still working on the bullet found in the victim's body,"
Adang said. "We haven't yet been informed what it was."
As Indonesia's laws prohibit civilians from possessing and
using guns without licenses, many believe that the suspects were
linked to servicemen. Adang denied this.
According to the detective, dozens of people, including Mamin
and other employees at PT FICC, have been questioned since
Thursday evening.
At the scene, officers only found a white helmet believed to
be owned by one of the suspects. It is currently being examined
at a forensic laboratory.
When asked about the increasing trend of robberies against
bank customers in the city, Adang blamed customers and the banks
for giving the criminals too many opportunities to carry out
robberies. (bsr)