Fired employee tries to rob gas station

Fired employee tries to rob gas station

JAKARTA (JP): Angry at having been suspended by his boss, a
senior employee at the busy Semanggi gasoline station on Jl.
Sudirman in Central Jakarta led a robbery with two accomplices at
his place of work place on Sunday evening.

The suspended worker, Irwan, 32, was caught at the scene by
his colleagues and handed over to police at the nearby Jakarta
Police headquarters, but his two accomplices escaped with Rp 78
million (US$8,965) in cash, according to staff at the gas
station.

When contacted on Thursday, the city police were unable to
report any progress in the search for the other two robbers.

"We don't even have a report on that robbery here," said an
officer in the information unit.

The local media reported that staff temporarily closed the gas
station at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday while three tankers unloaded
petrol. While the station was closed, a blue Suzuki Escudo
carrying three people arrived and drove onto the concourse.

"I was immediately suspicious because we had erected signs
announcing the temporary closure at the entrance," recalled an
employee named Jasri.

Irwan, who had been suspended since mid November, ran from the
car into the gas station office, opened the safety box with a key
and bundled the day's takings into a bag.

An employee identified as Wawan Hendriawan followed Irwan into
the office and confronted him. Irwan punched him and a fight then
broke out. The suspended employee drew a sickle, forced Wawan
into submission and began to bind him up with a rope.

At this point, Jasri walked into the office to see what was
happening, sized up the situation, grabbed a broom and hit Irwan
on the hand.

While Jasri and Irwan were busy wrestling, Irwan's accomplices
rushed in to the office, grabbed the bag and sped off in their
car, leaving Irwan behind.

After beating Irwan unconscious, his former colleagues dragged
him 100 meters to the nearby police headquarters.

Irwan revealed the names of his accomplices during
interrogation and city police detectives were assigned to track
them down. They have been identified to the public only as Ach.
and R.

Irwan, a father of three, told police that he earned only half
of his Rp 500,000 monthly salary during his suspension.

"I was angry because the punishment was kept in place right up
to Idul Fitri," Irwan told police. (bsr)