Father says associate arrested for kidnapping

Father says associate arrested for kidnapping

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Police reportedly nabbed a businessman on Tuesday for allegedly
planning the abduction of eight-year-old Muhamad Hegel Muthahhari
from his elementary school in Serpong Tangerang.

The businessman, identified as Sarwoto, was arrested at his
office in Wisma Arcadia on Jl. TB. Simatupang, South Jakarta at
3:30 p.m.

"Yes, Sarwoto was just arrested. He is one of my business
clients," the boy's father Meirizal Zulkarnaen, 40, told The
Jakarta Post.

Meirizal claimed that Sarwoto was among 40 clients who
arranged the kidnapping, not the 23 clients as earlier reported.

Meanwhile, Serpong Police chief Comr. Kostbar refused to
confirm that the police had arrested Sarwoto.

"I have no comment on that matter," Kostbar told the Post on
Tuesday.

However, he said the police were continuing the investigation
into the kidnapping, although they had earlier arrested seven
suspects in the case.

Two of the seven suspects, identified as Ade and Sofyan, were
arrested on Monday evening while the other five suspects,
identified as Nurul Lestaluhu and her husband Taher Lastaluhu,
Doni Wibisono, Jantra alias Babe and M. Soleh were nabbed on
Friday and Saturday.

Separately, one of the seven suspects, Taher Lestaluhu, 50, a
debt collector claimed on Tuesday that the kidnapping was his own
idea.

"I got angry because I had not been able to collect the money
Meirizal owed. So I abducted his son," Taher told reporters in
his cell at Serpong Police subprecinct.

He said that the clients ordered him to collect debts
amounting Rp 4.5 billion from Meirizal.

Meirizal admitted earlier that his company PT Artha Mulia
Ereska owed the debts to 150 creditors and had not paid them by
the promised deadline.

"It's company business, why they kidnapped my son," he said.

One of the creditors, Erna, who visited Tangerang Police on
Tuesday, admitted that she and other clients ordered Taher to
collect the debts from Meirizal.

"Yes, we instructed Taher to collect debt. But we did not
order him to kidnap the boy," Erna, who lent Rp 400 million to
Meirizal, told reporters.

Erna said that she planned to report Meirizal to the city
police soon for fraud.

Meanwhile, Tangerang Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tavip
Yulianto said the police would separate the kidnapping case from
the business relations between Meirizal and his clients.

"We do not wish to be too hasty in concluding that the clients
were involved in the kidnapping. It's separate case," Tavip told
reporters.

Hegel was abducted on July 30 while he was playing with his
friends in his school yard. The abductors asked his parents to
pay Rp 4 billion in ransom.

Police managed to trace the abductors when the parents
transferred Rp 10 million to one of the abductors' accounts.

On Friday, police arrested Nurul, the account holder and found
Hegel safe in a room with Doni at Horison Hotel in North Jakarta.
Taher was arrested on Saturday in Ambon and Jantra and Soleh were
arrested in Bekasi.