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)