Investigation into robbery of bank customer continues
JAKARTA (JP): Police ballistic experts are examining the bullet taken from the body of a bank customer shot dead in a robbery on Thursday.
City Police spokesman, Maj. Nyoman Suryasta said yesterday the results of the laboratory examination would help detectives identify the type of gun used.
The examinations are being carried out by the National Police Forensic Laboratory in Jakarta.
"Until today, we have no idea about the nature of the gun because we could not find the cartridge at the scene of crime," Nyoman said.
Police are still in the dark over who the four suspects are, he said.
The robbery occurred in front of the Bank Exim branch office on Jl. Merdeka Selatan next to the U.S. embassy and in front of dozens of passers-by.
None of the witnesses had the courage to stop the armed robbers until they left. A parking attendant threw stones at the four suspects only after they left with Rp 30 million (US$12,765) from the victim. Witnesses said the robbers who escaped on two motorcycles carried guns and machetes.
Order
Nyoman said Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata had ordered all city police to track the suspects.
"In a meeting early this morning, the chief paid close attention to the case, asking all units to collect as much information as possible in order to identify the four suspects," Nyoman said.
The robbery took place in the bank's parking lot about five meters from the bank's front door about 10 a.m. Thursday.
The victim, Hasan Said, 35, director of a travel agency PT Norhana Pertiwi, was on his way with one of his staff, Yono Mursito, 23, to deposit the Rp 30 million when the robbery happened.
According to Yono, who is Hasan's brother-in-law, they had just withdrawn Rp 110 million from Bank Duta's headquarters on Jl. Kebon Sirih and deposited Rp 70 million at Bank Duta's Jatinegara branch before going to Bank Exim to deposit the remaining Rp 30 million.
The cash belonged to several people planning to go to Mecca for the ritual pilgrimage next year, police said.
Shortly after Yono left their Kijang van holding a plastic bag with the money, the four men approached him and grabbed the bag.
One of the robbers slashed Yono's right hand with a machete when he tried to resist, while another pointed a gun at Hasan who tried to help Yono.
The robber shot Hasan in the left side of his chest as he tried to help Yono, who refused to let go of the plastic bag.
Hasan died at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital where doctors were unable to remove the bullet.
Thursday's incident was the third armed robbery in Central Jakarta in the last three weeks.
Last month, 11 armed robberies on bank customers were recorded in Jakarta. Five took place in South Jakarta, four in West Jakarta and two in Central Jakarta.
In many cases, the robbers only wounded their victims so they could run away and prevent their victim's calling for help.
Normally, the robbers are in groups of at least two and riding a motorcycle.
According to police data bank customer robbers are usually from one of two ethnic groups with operations in big Indonesian and overseas cities, including Singapore and Hong Kong.
A few months ago, the Jakarta police arrested about 50 people from the two groups, hoping the number of robberies against bank customers would drop significantly.
Police have asked bank clients to use police escorts, for free, when taking money to and from the bank. (bsr)