Kidnapped boy reunited with parents

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives have returned 11-year-old William Alexander to his parents after a 13-day kidnapping ordeal allegedly engineered by a disgruntled former business partner of the boy's father, an officer said on Saturday.

According to Jakarta Police detectives chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, Abdulah Rumain, 28, and Yunus Rm Daul, 26, are suspected of kidnapping and holding William on the orders of Agung Yuwono Edi Santoso, 29, a former partner of Hasihola Simamora.

"Agung felt he was swindled out of Rp 1.3 billion by Hasiholah in a bad business deal dating back 10 years. Agung filed a complaint against Hasiholah with the city police last year, demanding the money back," Alex said.

"But we didn't know Agung would go this far."

Agung, Yunus and Abdulah are in police custody.

William, a fifth-grader at Tarakanita Catholic elementary school, was returned by the police on Thursday.

The boy appeared tired when he met reporters at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

He said he was abducted on Sept. 3 as he returned home from school.

"My elder brother had entered our home on Jl. Pisok XV, Block EE, Bintaro Jaya, Pondok Aren subdistrict, Tangerang.

"But I was still outside. A hardtop (jeep) passed by and two people got out. When they saw my grandmother open the front door, they held me tight and asked her where my parents were," William said.

"When grandmother said that my parents were in Kalimantan, they hollered 'we'll keep this boy until his parents repay the debt to Agung'. Then they took me to a hotel."

He said the kidnappers changed hotels every two days. He added that they bought him new clothes and fed him well.

"But they never allowed me to call my mother. I cried myself to sleep every night," William said.

His mother, Marina Marpaung, said Agung was involved in many bad business deals, but he held a particular grudge against her husband.

"Ten days after my son was abducted, it suddenly hit me that I had his number in one of my work files. I searched them and found the number of his cell phone," she said.

The couple notified Alex of the kidnapping on Thursday. Alex dispatched detectives to search Agung's home in Tebet, South Jakarta, and found the boy the same day.

"The two other suspects were caught in their homes in Duren Sawit and Kramatjati in East Jakarta," Alex said. (ylt)