Heroin dealers arrested

JAKARTA (JP): Police arrested four heroin dealers, two of them university students, yesterday for locking up a woman in a house on Jl. Raya Karang Tengah, in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

South Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Sisno Adiwinoto said Sofia Anissa, 21, had been locked up by suspects Hardianto Sihombing alias Anto, Popon Yunifah, Nandang alias Katel, and Riva Sihombing for five days.

"The suspects took Sofia as hostage because Sofia's friends fled before paying for heroin they bought from the suspects," Sisno said.

He said Anto, who was a university student, lived on Jl. Blok C, at the Sawangan Permai housing complex in Bogor.

Nandang who was also a university student resided on Jl. Pendopo Raya, also in Bogor, he said.

The remaining two suspects were unemployed.

The incident began when Sofia and her friends, identified as Michael, Donal, Gabriel, and Eli, went to the house on May 20 and met the suspects, Sisno said.

Michael told Anto that he wanted to buy some putauw, a cheap kind of heroin. He agreed to pay Rp 320,000 (US$133) for one ounce of the heroin after tasting it, Sisno said.

He said Sofia was waiting in front of the house when Michael, Donal and Eli suddenly fled in a blue Volkswagen van with the stolen heroin.

Sisno said Sofia, who was abandoned by her friends, was captured by the suspects.

The suspects hoped that Sofia's friends would return the heroin or the money, he said.

He said the suspects locked up Sofia, a resident from Cilangkap village, in Cibinong, Bogor, in a room and did not feed her.

Sofia escaped on May 25 but was chased by the suspects, he said.

The victim then hid in a house of a neighborhood head, he said, who rushed her to nearby Fatmawati Hospital. She was in bad condition, he said.

Sofia, accompanied by her parents and the neighborhood head, reported the case to the police.

He said the police, who had watched the empty house since the report, arrested the suspects yesterday.

The police also questioned the owner of the house, identified as Deny.

Sisno said police were still hunting for three other suspected accomplices, identified as Theresia, Fifi and Danu. (jun)