Sat, 15 Oct 1994

Detectives go to S'pore to uncover Beng Seng's murder

JAKARTA (JP): City Police have assigned two senior detectives to Singapore to find the man behind the brutal killing of businessman Nyo Beng Seng last April.

"The detectives are scheduled to leave for Singapore this evening," City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told reporters here yesterday.

The two-star general would not give details on the city's police mission, led by Lt. Col. Gories Mere, head of General Affairs in the Crime Investigation Department.

"Mere [and his personnel] has a lot to do there," Hindarto said.

Beng Seng, alias Darmansyah Suyadi, 57, was savagely stabbed to death 12 times in the wee hours of the night on April 15 this year by at least four masked men in front of his second wife's mansion on Jl. Pluit Kencana Raya 128 in North Jakarta.

Nobody has been arrested as of today but many police sources believe the killing was plotted by a rival gambling business.

Besides being known as owner of the Irama Tara cassette and video recording firm, Beng Seng also owned a number of nightclubs, massage parlors and beauty salons.

Hindarto told reporters that police were focusing their investigation on two local members of the criminal syndicate Triad gang, based in Hong Kong, for the gangland slaying.

He refused to further identify the two people but claimed that they are both probably of Chinese descent.

"We believe the syndicate is trying to set up operations in this country," Hindarto said, "but we've pledged to destroy the birth of any such organization here."

The Triad gang has more than 50 well-organized networks outside Hong Kong, stretching from London, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, New York, Bangkok, Manila to Singapore.

Yorrys

When asked yesterday if the detectives in Singapore were trying to collect information and evidence about the alleged role of Yorrys Raweyai of Pemuda Pancasila organization in Beng Seng's murder, Hindarto gave no clear answer.

"We don't have to be a priori, we work based on material evidence available," he said.

Yorrys, day-to-day chairman of the Golkar-affiliated youth organization, is currently in police custody for his alleged role in the death of a servant.

Besides Yorrys, four other members of the organization have been arrested in the same case.

According to Hindarto, the organization's chairman, Yapto Suryosumarno, played no role in the servant's death. The servant is believed to have kidnapped and killed the two-and-a-half year son of his employer, who is secretary general of the organization's branch office for North Jakarta.

"There has been no indication of Yapto's role in this case thus far," he said Thursday.

Hindarto also confirmed that Yapto's 16-year-old son, Yedi, may have been involved in the beating of the 23-year-old son of Manpower Minister Abdul Latief and the 16-year-old son of a retired Army lieutenant general.

The torture of the minister's son, who suffered serious wounds, took place at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Sarinah building, Central Jakarta, on March 21. Two of Yedi's friends were also arrested for their participation.

Dossiers from the case, Hindarto said, have been submitted to the City District Attorney Office.

Yedi, a high school sophomore, has not been detained due to his age and health condition, police said.

He was once in police custody but was released on bail three weeks later after coming down with dengue fever.

Days after being freed, Yedi and his private bodyguard, Yudhi, tortured Adel Yohanes, the army general's son, at a pub in Hotel Borobudur Continental. (bsr)