Gang of 13 runs out of luck as police abort theft, kill one

JAKARTA (JP): Tangerang police shot to death a wanted member of the so-called "Gang of 13," a group that specializes in burglary, as the deceased along with several accomplices were reportedly trying to rob a house.

Police said the deceased, identified as Sarmat, 30, resident of Pangkalan village, Tangerang, still tried to escape despite a gunshot wound. He reportedly stumbled through the street and fell dead in a gutter, around 3 a.m. yesterday.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Latief Rabar said Sarmat was a member of the "Gang of 13", so called for their 13 members, which was believed to have been responsible for house robberies since 1993.

Latief said Sarmat, along with eight accomplices who fled the arrest, were planning to rob the house of M. Kim, 40, a businessman, in Pangkalan village, Teluk Naga subdistrict, when a group of patrolmen arrived at the scene.

"At that time the Tangerang police were conducting a so-called 'selective operation', a routine anti-crime operation across their jurisdiction," Latief explained.

Police became suspicious when they saw the nine criminals gathered around Kim's house in an unusual manner.

When police greeted them, the criminals initially made a move to attack them but then ran off into the night. They kept fleeing although police had fired warning shots.

Awakened by the shots, the area residents rushed out of their houses and helped police locate the criminals and collect the weapons they left behind, including seven machetes, one sickle, one handmade firearm, and one slingshot.

After combing the area, police found one of the suspects, dead of a chest wound. The man was later identified as Sarmat.

Sarmat was reportedly one of the "Gang of 13" members who robbed the Tangerang branch of Panin Bank on June 28.

Six of the gang members were captured by police in the following days, while the others fled the arrest, including Sarmat.

According to police records, Sarmat was also involved in the 1993 robberies of a house in Tugu village where they made away with gold worth Rp 50 million (US$23,080) and Rp 20 million in cash and a house in Pangkalan village, where they snatched 100 grams of gold, and Rp 5 million in cash.

Ganja

In a related development, another group of Tangerang police patrolmen captured four youths in Balaraja district, carrying half a kilogram of ganja (marijuana) in their van.

It was reported the four, identified as Mat Rizal, Junaedi, Suriatman, and Budi Permana, all in their 20s, were driving a red Colt van heading for Jakarta in the wee hours of the morning.

The suspicious patrolmen ordered them a stop but they sped up, ignoring the police orders.

Several kilometers away the van developed engine trouble, forcing the youths to make their escape on foot through a paddy field.

Police managed to capture them and found a half kilogram of ganja in the car, which the youths said was purchased in Bandung and would be sold in Jakarta.

Latief said the youths took the unusual route from Bandung through Pandeglang and Balaraja to Jakarta to avoid police supervision. (jsk)