Mon, 15 Jun 1998

Businessman injured, robbed of Rp 60m

JAKARTA (JP): A group of 10 armed robbers broke into a businessman's house in Kelurahan Cipinang Besar Selatan in East Jakarta Saturday morning and took away Rp 60 million (US$4,300) in cash and a television set, a police officer said over the weekend.

Armed with machetes, sickles and a gun, the thieves wounded the fruit wholesaler vendor Badrul, 30, in the head and tied up his wife and their three children, according to the officer who asked for anonymity.

In a report to the police, Badrul's wife said that the incident at her family's house on Jl. Panca Warga IV occurred at about 3:30 a.m..

After securing the housewife and the three children, the intruders pointed their weapons at Badrul and forced the businessman to show them where he kept his cash and other valuables, the officer said.

"When he tried to resist, one of the burglars swung his sickle onto Badrul's head," he said.

Badrul's wife admitted that she was unable to help her husband until after the robbers had fled.

"I had to wait until they were completely gone. I then screamed for help and the neighbors started coming," she recalled.

Her husband is being treated at the Mitra Keluarga Hospital in Jatinegara.

Duren Sawit police detectives are still investigating the case.

Beaten

A day earlier, a man was beaten to death by an angry mob after allegedly trying to rob a woman in the early hours at the Pulogadung inter-city bus station, also in East Jakarta.

The body was abandoned in the street and by the time the police got there, the crowd had disappeared.

According to the supposed victim, identified as Sutinah, 26, the man tried to grab her gold necklace just after she got off a bus at around 3:15 a.m..

"She screamed for help and people rushed to her and punched the suspect.

He was dying when we took them to the police hospital in Kramat Jati," said an officer at the Pulogadung police subprecinct.

After he died, the body of the alleged culprit was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for identification. (edt/ivy)