Fugitive minibus driver captured at last

Fugitive minibus driver captured at last

JAKARTA (JP): Ramses Silitonga, the driver of the Metromini
bus which careened into a river here last March killing 33
passengers, has been captured.

The police announced yesterday that the suspect was captured
in North Sumatra on Thursday afternoon after six months on the
run. Ramses, 33, fled responsibility after the packed minibus he
drove recklessly careened into the muddy and heavily polluted
Sunter river along Jl. Yos Sudarso, North Jakarta, on March 6.

Ramses had reportedly changed his name into Ucok Sitompul
before he was employed as a contract worker at a timber mill in
Tanjung Mulia village in the Kampung Rakyat subdistrict, Labuhan
Batu regency, North Sumatra, when he was captured by police
officers at around 5 p.m.

"He is still being questioned in North Sumatra, and is
scheduled to be transferred here today on the last flight," Brig.
Gen. IK Ratta, spokesman for the national police, told reporters
yesterday morning.

Ramses was reportedly driving at high speed in a race with
other buses and lost control of his bus at a turn. The bus
plunged into the river.

The accident killed 33 passengers and injured several others,
while Ramses managed to save himself from drowning by escaping
through the broken windshield. He had been in hiding ever since.

City police quickly formed a special team to hunt for him.
National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman announced him a national
fugitive, calling for police all over the country to jointly
search for the driver.

Police managed to find his wife, Rusmaida Siahaan, last week
after continuously keeping an eye on their elementary-school son
who lived with his grandfather in Kebun Bawang district, North
Jakarta.

During interrogation, Ramses related how, after getting out of
the muddy river, he had stopped a taxi and rushed to the Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital for medical treatment.

All his relatives rushed to the hospital and took him and his
wife to the house of one of their friends, identified as Ah, who
lives in Cengkareng district, West Jakarta. The couple stayed
there ten days.

Ramses decided to return to his hometown of Siborong-Borong,
North Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, along with his wife. They
left for Bandung by bus and stayed there several days to avoid
police detection.

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Leaving his wife alone in Bandung, Ramses took another bus to
Bakauheni port in Lampung where he changed buses for Rantau
Parapat in Labuhan Batu regency, North Sumatra, from where he
proceeded to his hometown, Siborong-borong.

His relatives, who had learnt of his case through newspaper
reports, advised him to hide himself in Labuhan Batu regency.

Ramses changed his name to Ucok Sitompul and worked as a daily
contract worker at the timber mill PT Pemudjur in Tandjung Mulia.
But police finally managed to track him down with the aid of tips
from the public.

To ensure that the person they had tailed was the real Ramses,
plainclothes officers approached him, calling him by his real
name on Thursday afternoon while he was walking in the village.

Seeing "Ucok" respond by turning his head towards them, the
officers quickly handcuffed him and took him to the Kampung
Rakyat police station for interrogation.

Spokesman Ratta said his relatives had confirmed that it was
Ramses that the police had captured.

Ratta criticized the lack of legal compliance of Ramses'
relatives who harbored him instead of turning him in to law
enforcers.

"We shall take appropriate measures to all people who harbored
him," the spokesman said. (jsk)