Business tycoon's kidnappers arrested

Business tycoon's kidnappers arrested

BEKASI (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said
yesterday that officers have arrested eight men for allegedly
kidnapping business tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, the owner of Bank
Dagang Negara Indonesia (BDNI).

Another suspect is still at large, Hamami said.

"We're still investigating the case. So far, they claim that
they kidnapped the victim because the victim's nephew, identified
only as J., did not pay his debts to the kidnappers."

Both Nursalim and his nephew are executives of the bank.

"We can't just believe that. Further investigation is expected
to reveal other motives behind the kidnapping," he said.

The men had allegedly abducted Nursalim on Sept. 2 and held
him captive for three days. No details about the abduction were
available.

"The men demanded a ransom of Rp 15 billion (US$4.2 million)
to be transferred in U.S. dollars to a bank in Singapore," Hamami
said without naming the overseas bank.

Nursalim's family did transfer some cash to the bank but no
details were available.

Hamami said the kidnappers had moved Nursalim from one place
to another, including Cengkareng and Sawangan in West Java,
during the abduction.

He said police officers began hunting for the suspects as soon
as the victim reported the case earlier this month.

"On Oct. 7, we arrested two of the eight suspects, namely Rr
and Es. The other five -- Sd, S, Km, Sl and An -- were arrested
afterward."

Hamami said the seven suspects had been detained at Jakarta
Police Headquarters.

"The eighth, a Singapore citizen, named Ma, was arrested in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia."

He said that the officers had, at first, encountered some
difficulties in extraditing Ma to Indonesia due to the lack of a
treaty or statute between Indonesia and Malaysia.

"We later cooperated with Singaporean Police to arrest Ma. He
has been detained in Singapore.

"We'll apprehend the remaining suspect soon. For now, we're
still trying to get more evidence. We've seized Rp 12 billion in
the form of giro slips as evidence," he said. (cst)