Extorters of ATM users arrested

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta police have busted three members of a gang thought to have waged a year-long campaign against automatic teller machine (ATM) users.

One of the three suspects was shot in the leg while trying to flee and the fourth is still at large as he escaped the Friday night raid, City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said Saturday.

"We have been looking for this group of four for at least a year. They have robbed at least 30 ATM cardholders by using the same intrigue, that is intimidating the victims and then extorting their money," he said.

The three suspects, identified only as AS, AL and Sud, were arrested while beating up Johannes Frans Sugandi in an empty field on Jl. Fatmawati, he said.

"The group of four first accused the victim of having crashed a car belonging to one of the suspects. They then forced the victim to pay for the vehicle's repair," said Aritonang.

Preliminary police investigations revealed that Johannes was walking alone in the Atrium shopping mall in Senen, Central Jakarta, on Friday evening when one of the suspects approached him and accused him of damaging the gang's car, the officer said.

The suspects quickly surrounded Johannes when the latter attempted to defend himself against the allegation.

"But apparently the suspects, in some way, threatened Johannes so the latter could do nothing to prevent them taking him to the crime scene by taxi," Aritonang said.

He said that Johannes was then forced to hand over all his three ATM cards along with their Personal Identification Numbers.

Aritonang refused to disclose the issuers of the ATM cards.

"While one of the gang members went to a nearby ATM to withdraw some cash, the victim was guarded by the other three suspects," he said.

The suspects became angry when they found out that there was only Rp 15,000 (US$1.75) left in Johannes' account.

They immediately attacked the man, Aritonang said.

Fortunately, he said, a police patrol from the Cilandak police subprecinct saw the incident and fired a warning shot in an attempt to halt the beating.

AL and AS surrendered but Sud and the other suspect fled. Sud surrendered after an officer shot him in the leg but the other one managed to get away, the spokesman said.

The suspects face a maximum of 12 years in jail if found guilty of robbing and assaulting their victims. (cst)