Chinese tourists detained as kidnapping suspects
Chinese tourists detained as kidnapping suspects
Evi Mariani
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The Jakarta Police arrested three Chinese citizens for robbing
three Indonesian traders -- who own shops at Blok M Mall, South
Jakarta -- and for kidnapping one of them.
The police arrested Lin Yongfei, 25, Lin Yongfeng, 23, and
Feng Shigui, 23, on Aug. 14, after they received a complaint from
Magdalena, the daughter of Hioe Siet Phin, 48, one of the three
Indonesian traders.
The suspects, who came to Indonesia on tourist visas, were
residents of Fujian, China. They told the police they had been
unemployed in China.
The suspects contacted Magdalena by phone on Aug. 12 -- after
allegedly kidnapping Hioe -- and demanded Rp 2 billion
(US$217,391) in ransom if she wanted to see her mother alive.
"The three have been in Jakarta for a month and hold visas for
a three-month stay here. They lived in a house in Taman Ratu
housing complex in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta," said city police
detective chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang on Friday.
Previously, the three suspects robbed two electronics shop
owners Elina Poinah, 36, and her father Ngadimun, 63.
The two had left their shops in Blok M Mall on July 31 at
around 9 p.m. when the three suspects approached them in the
parking lot. The suspects got into the car, which headed to
Ngadimun's house in Muara Karang, North Jakarta.
Since Lin Yongfei knew the victims from their previous
business deals, neither of the shop owners was suspicious.
The suspects later threatened them, using two axes, to
withdraw money from their savings account through an authorized
teller machine (ATM). They withdrew a total of Rp 1.8 million and
eventually fled.
A few days later, they managed to abduct Hioe, who was about
to go home after closing her shop at Blok M Mall, using a rented
Toyota Avanza minivan. The three brought her to their rented
house and held her there for three days before the police
apprehended them.
According to the police, Hioe is in good health, despite her
ordeal.
The police had to use a Chinese interpreter during the
investigation. They revealed that it was the first time the three
had committed a crime in Indonesia.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said he could not
recall any similar cases in which foreign tourists were suspected
of robbery or kidnapping.
Separately, the city police arrested Ho Kwok Chi, a 62-year-
old resident of Hong Kong, on Wednesday at around 2:45 p.m. for
selling Chinese-made cosmetics at Harco Mangga Dua shopping
center in West Jakarta.
The police said Ho did not hold a permit to conduct business
here, nor a permit from the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency
(BPOM). He was caught red-handed, selling 10 boxes of cosmetics
to some traders at the shopping center.