Gang murders teenage girls in Bandung, police have no leads

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Cimahi police officers have questioned at least 16 public minibus (angkot) drivers since Sunday in a desperate search for clues over the murder of two teenage girls during a robbery in a minibus last week.

Chief of Cimahi regency police Adj. Sr. Comr. Irwanto said on Monday that, during the investigation, the drivers were questioned on whether they had information about the robbery on Thursday last week.

The drivers were also made to stand in a lineup for the third victim, who survived the robbery and a near fatal fall into a river while bound and gagged, Indah Rahayu, 18, in order to allow her to identify whether one of the drivers was involved in the death of her university classmates.

In the investigation, the police also ordered the drivers to say the phrases "I don't need you, I only need your money" to Indah, in order to allow Indah to identify the perpetrator's voice.

According to Indah, there were three drivers whose faces and voices were similar to one of the criminals who were involved in the robbery. But, police investigators did not name any of them suspects as the investigation was not yet complete. Each of the three had a strong alibi, the police said.

The crime occurred on Thursday night on a street in Jati village, Nandjung subdistrict, Bandung regency. The incident began when the three teenagers from Achmad Yani Health College (STIKES) were on their way home from a religious gathering at an Islamic boarding school. The students were riding a public minibus on the Leuwipanjang-Cimahi route along with six other passengers.

In a quiet corner of Jati village, seven kilometers away from the boarding school, the minibus stopped and the other passengers began plundering valuables belonging to the three victims.

The robbers stole two cellular phones, the girls' wallets and other valuables before tossing them off the Leuwi Sapi bridge, bound and gagged, into the Citarum River. Desy Sri Mulyati, 19 and Ratih Rismayati, 19, were later found dead in the river.

However, Indah survived after she was able to free her hands and swim ashore.

According to Irwanto, investigators have also produced sketches of the robbers. Based on Indah's description, the police discovered that one of the perpetrators bore physical similarities to an earlier sketch of a thief, who is still roaming free in the area but has been accused of another minibus robbery in nearby Padalarang, West Java on Sept. 30, just nine days earlier.

"We think that these thieves were from the same group," Irwanto deduced. The minibus robbery, in which the two girls were murdered, was the third of its kind this year in Cimahi regency.

For Indah's safety, Cimahi police assigned undercover officers to guard her.