Eight arrested for thuggish brawl at district court

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Jakarta Police arrested on Wednesday eight thugs for their alleged involvement in brawls on Tuesday at the West Jakarta District Court that killed one and injured two. They are currently being held at the city police headquarters detention center.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said that the eight had yet to be named as suspects.

"For the time being, they have been arrested for questioning. We are still hunting down the key suspect who stabbed a thug to death," he said, referring to Walter Buang, who died from loss of blood from a deep gash to his neck.

Court spokesman MT Anam acknowledged that security at the compound was quite weak. He said anybody could enter the court building without having to undergo a weapons search of the type that has become common practice in public places across the city since the Marriott bombing in South Jakarta on Aug. 5, 2003.

"There should be coordination between the court, the prosecutor's office and the police," Anam said. "We shall ask for police assistance in future to safeguard trials that might raise security problems."

Buang had been at the court to accompany Fredi, who was scheduled to testify on Tuesday at around 2 p.m. in a trial into a brawl at Stadium discotheque, West Jakarta. Before the trial began, a group of thugs suddenly attacked them in the court building.

Buang and his friend Saban were stabbed by the thugs and witnesses said the two ran out of the court covered in blood before collapsing on the street near the court.

The attacking thugs then threw the bleeding men into their two cars and fled the scene.

Four police officers at nearby West Jakarta Police station quickly hopped onto two motorcycles and chased after the cars.

The officers managed to corner one of the cars on Jl. K.S. Tubun, in front of Tresna Pangastuti Hospital. They ordered the six passengers inside the car to get out and show their ID cards.

As the police were speaking to them, a black van stopped behind them. Two men got out of the van and approached the six passengers, carrying a metal pipe and a knife. They suddenly stabbed one of the six and hit another with the pipe.

The injured thug, identified as Caleb, was treated at the hospital before being transferred to Soekanto Police Hospital, East Jakarta.

Four other passengers escaped on foot but were apprehended by passersby who handed them over to the police.

Police also stopped another car, which carried Buang and Saban, and took the two victims to Pelni Hospital on Jl. K.S. Tubun, but Buang died from his wounds.