Driver killed over Rp 2,000 dispute

TANGERANG (JP): A Prestasi taxi driver was mobbed and killed on Sunday evening by a gang of hoodlums over a Rp 2000 dispute in Serpong, an officer said.

Police subprecinct chief First Insp. Widji Listianto identified the victim as Rizal, 31, a resident of Tanjung Gedong, West Jakarta, and the suspects, all still at large, as those normally demanding money from taxi drivers waiting for passengers in the area.

"Police are still tracing the possible whereabouts of the suspects, who managed to escape shortly after our arrival," Widji said.

Based on preliminary investigations, the victim, who normally parked his taxi in the area along with his fellow taxi drivers, was just about to leave the site with a passenger at around 7 p.m. when one of the culprits approached him and asked for a "waiting fee" of Rp 2,000 (two U.S. cents).

Rizal apparently refused to meet the request and eventually alighted from his taxi and became involved in a heated argument with the hoodlum, officer Widji said.

The quarrel led the other gang members to rush to the scene where they immediately mobbed the taxi driver, he said.

"One of the suspects hit Rizal on the back of the head with a bar as a result of which he fell down on the ground unconscious," the officer quoted witnesses as saying.

Rizal died on the way to Tangerang General Hospital.

"We hope that we will be able to catch this gang of hoodlums soon, as they are always making problems for taxi drivers in the area," Widji said.

In March of this year, a public minivan driver, Maulana, 23, was beaten and slashed to death by a gang of three men over Rp 100 at the side of Jl. Cemara in the Karawaci housing complex.

Witnesses at the scene recalled that the three men, who collect money from minivan drivers for their "services" in directing passengers to their vehicles, were upset when Maulana refused their demand for cash. (41/bsr)