Brimob personnel injure locals

Brimob personnel injure locals

JAKARTA (JP): Several police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) members
beat up on Saturday night three people, whom they believed were
local hoodlums, in a parking lot in front of Robinson department
store on Jl. Pasar Minggu Raya, South Jakarta.

The victims, Asril Azis, Hendry and Muslimin, suffered bruises
on their head and faces.

The attackers were said to be out of uniform.

South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Supt. Bambang Widaryatmo
confirmed that the attack was committed by several Brimob
members, believed to be from the brigade's headquarters in Kelapa
Dua, East Jakarta.

Bambang expressed regret that the attack occurred.

"They heard that one of their friends, Sgt. Mote, was beaten
up by a group of people in the area. Perhaps, they got angry, and
then struck back by attacking the three locals," he told The
Jakarta Post by telephone on Sunday on the possible motive behind
the attack.

Bambang also hinted that the attack may have been aimed at the
wrong people as it is unclear whether the three victims were
really hoodlums.

"Two of them were nearby market porters, while the other,
Muslimin, just arrived from Karawang, West Java," said Bambang.

He said the three were treated at nearby Pasar Minggu Hospital
for "light facial bruises".

Efriyanto, 28, a local street vendor, said the attackers
arrived on the scene at around 9 p.m. in private vehicles.

He said that only one of them wore a T-shirt bearing the
police unit's logo. "A police officer in the area was silent and
did nothing," he told the Post.

Bambang said the Brimob personnel involved would be processed
in line with the law.

But further investigation by police only seemed to add
confusion to the cause of the incident as a police report, signed
by an officer at the Pasar Minggu Police station, said that there
had been no attack by a local hoodlum on a Brimob member.

"The attack does not exist," said a police report, signed by
First Insp. Meisoedi. (asa/07)