Gambling organizers wanted

JAKARTA (JP): Police are searching for three men suspected of running gambling dens on Jl.Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, police spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Ratta said yesterday.

He identified the three men as Effendi Halim, owner of the Tio Ciu restaurant, and Arma and Chuan Buntung, owners of the Mawar Indah bar and massage parlor.

Last week a special police team raided Tio Ciu and Mawar Indah after learning that the two places were used as gambling dens.

Led by Lt. Col. Jacky Uli, 50 members of the team, equipped with Stayer automatic guns and a helicopter, arrested 61 people at Tio Ciu and 70 others at Mawar Indah.

The people arrested were found gambling when the police officers raided the places, Ratta said.

The officers took the 131 detainees to the team's headquarters in Kelapa Dua, East Jakarta, in two trucks and a bus before sending them to police headquarters in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

"All of the people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in gambling," Ratta said, disclosing that 52 of the detainees are waitresses who worked at the restaurant and the bar.

Police confiscated baccarat and roulette equipment, cards and tens of millions in rupiah banknotes.

Ratta denied allegations that the police had violated the law during the operation. "All of police actions during the raids were in line with the existing procedures," he said without elaboration.

A local newspaper recently ran an article alleging that the police team had abused the people arrested at Tio Ciu and Mawar Indah. The paper said the police officers acted arbitrarily to the point of resorting to violence in arresting the people there, although some of them were not gamblers.

The paper also accused the officers of damaging the two buildings and taking money.

Ratta said the allegations were groundless. "The police went to the sites simply to arrest suspected gamblers and criminals. Why would they themselves commit a crime?" Ratta asked.(29)