Gang pulls off RI's biggest train robbery

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

About 40 people hijacked three Serayu economy-class train cars and robbed all passengers on board, making it the worst train robbery in the country's history, an official said on Saturday.

The thieves robbed the passengers as the train headed to Kroya, Central Java, from Jakarta, on Thursday, said state train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) Bandung operations spokesman Sukendar Mulya.

At least 30 passengers lost their valuables in the robbery and six others were thrown from the train after they fought with the robbers. As of Saturday, police had arrested seven of the 40 robbers. "There were no security personnel on board the train. We regret that," said Sukendar.

Train security personnel, who are under the command of the company, usually guard business- and executive-class trains, while, until recently, economy-class trains were guarded by police officers hired by the company.

"The officers were absent because they were called in by their superiors to help with security for the legislative and presidential elections this year," he said.

According to a statement from a witness, the thieves commenced the robbery as the train headed to Kroya from Jakarta's Kota station on Thursday night. They were disguised as train vendors, according to PT KAI official Akhmad Sudjadi, who quoted from eyewitness Usman Tony, 32.

Some of them boarded the train when it stopped at Jatinegara station, East Jakarta, on its way to Kroya.

The train comprised eight cars: three passenger cars in front, followed by a generator car, a restaurant car and three more passenger cars.

As the train reached Bekasi, the lights in the last three cars suddenly went out: The robbers appear to have severed an electricity cable somewhere on the train. They began to force the passengers to hand over their valuables. Usman resisted the robbers, so he was dragged to a door by some of them and thrown out somewhere in the Karawang area.

Five other passengers suffered the same fate as he. Usman suffered only light injuries, and walked to nearby Karawang station to summon help.

With the train still in Karawang, the robbers activated the emergency brake and left the train, according to other witnesses.

Karawang Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Iwan RS said on Saturday that the fate of the five other passengers thrown from the train was still unknown.

"However, I'm confident they're safe, because no fatalities were reported along the railway line," he said.

PT KAI spokesman Noor Hamidi apologized for the incident and said that the company would ask the police to reassign at least two officers to every economy-class train in future. Following the incident, the company stated that it also planned to prohibit casual food and beverage vendors from boarding trains.