City police increase patrols following spate of armed robberies
JAKARTA (JP): The city police have been intensifying their street patrols in the wake of a recent wave of robberies.
According to Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis, the increasing number of robberies was baffling the capital's police.
"We are doing our best to handle all of them, but the capital's residents must give us more time. We can't solve all of them," Zainuri said on Tuesday.
The latest robbery took place on Tuesday afternoon. Four robbers armed with a gun and a sickle stole some Rp 363 million (US$51,860) from a cashier at a chain store in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
The robbers waylaid Slamet, a cashier at Ramayana, as he entered the store through the back door. The thieves grabbed the money and injured Slamet and a security guard in the ensuing scuffle.
Witnesses said the robbers fled aboard two motorcycles.
The security guard, Nurisetiono, received a gunshot wound to his right leg, and Slamet was slashed across his left arm and elbow. The two were taken to Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The head of security at the Ramayana, Sulaeman H.S, said all of the store's guards were unarmed.
Tanah Abang Police chief Capt. Suwito said the four robbers had not been identified and that Central Jakarta Police detectives had taken over the case.
"We have two bullet shells from the guns used by the robbers, one bullet and a sickle. From the evidence, we know they used FN- 45 guns," Suwito said.
Separately, ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver Dulatif, 34, was robbed early Tuesday by a passenger who requested a ride to Pejompongan in Central Jakarta from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta.
The passenger, described as young and thin, is believed to have been helped by an accomplice who was lying in wait.
Dulatif was struck on the back of the head with a wooden stick before the culprits made off with his black Yamaha ZR motorcycle.
Tanah Abang Police officers rushed Dulatif to nearby Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, where he regained consciousness around 6 a.m.
Street justice
In West Jakarta, residents of Kembangan subdistrict beat and burned a suspected car thief, identified as Ali Mustafa, to death on Tuesday morning. No one from the West Jakarta Police station could be reached to comment on the incident.
Meanwhile, an attempted robbery took place aboard a bus traveling on the Semanggi cloverleaf in South Jakarta. A 17-year- old maritime school student was the target of a man who claimed to be a university student.
The victim, identified as Jacky Sofriyantono, said the suspect, Deddy Jumarwan, attempted to steal his watch and wallet aboard the air-conditioned bus plying the Pulogadung-Blok M route.
"The problem was, Deddy was so high he didn't know exactly what he was doing. Luckily, a security officer was riding the bus with the boys. He got them both and brought them to the South Jakarta Police station," Zainuri said.
The suspect, who initially claimed to be a student at Trisakti University in West Jakarta, changed his story at the police station, saying he was studying international relations at a university in Central Jakarta.
Police found seven packets of marijuana and Rohypnol tranquilizer pills in the suspect's pockets.
In another incident, six men in a Kijang van robbed Yanto Suyanto, 31, of his Colt van and 8.5 tons of rice on the Cikampek-Jakarta toll road in Cibitung, Bekasi, at 4 a.m on Monday.
Hasan Basori, 27, as associate of Yanto who was in the Colt at the time of the robbery, said they had pulled off to the side of the toll road to rest when the six men arrived in their Kijang, tied them up and threw them in their van.
One of the robbers drove Yanto's van while another robber drove Yanto and Hasan to Joglo in West Jakarta, where the two were dropped off.
Meanwhile, a man held a knife to the throat of 34-year-old Junaidi and stole his bag containing two Bank Central Asia bankbooks and Rp 30 million in cash. The incident took place on Jl. Raya Industri IV in Cikupa, Tangerang, at 11:30 a.m. on Monday. (ylt/01)