Kidnapping gang out of control

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A suspected gang of serial kidnappers targeting children is reportedly operating in Jakarta and a number of cities in West Java.

One of the child kidnap victims was brutally raped and murdered even after a ransom was paid.

Police say there are similarities in the perpetrators' physical characteristics and the methods employed in at least three kidnappings in Jakarta and Cianjur, West Java.

In the latest case, the kidnappers are holding two children from Cianjur, and are demanding a Rp 15 million (US$1,765) ransom for their safe return.

First Insp. Widodo, deputy chief of detectives in Cianjur, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the Cianjur kidnappers employed the same methods and had similar physical characteristics to those involved in earlier cases in Cipayung, East Jakarta, and Pademangan, North Jakarta.

However, he declined to elaborate further.

Separately, Second Insp. Hariyadi, chief of detectives in Cipayung police subprecinct, told the Post that the police had to be extremely careful in dealing with the kidnappers as they appeared to be professionals.

Based on the similarities between the cases, it was likely that all the kidnappings had been committed by the same gang, he said.

"However, we need to check our information with that from other units to confirm that it's the same gang," he said.

First Insp. Santoso, the chief of detectives in Pademangan subprecinct, North Jakarta, told the Post that the same gang had probably been responsible for a kidnapping in his jurisdiction, and that the suspected gang members had been placed on the police wanted list.

The subprecinct also had a photograph of one of the suspected kidnappers, but Santoso refused to release it until the police could confirm the person concerned was actually a gang member.

Santoso added that the police were overcoming interjurisdictional problems by maintaining good coordination between all the units involved.

The kidnapping in Pademangan, which took place in April, was the first that is believed to have been carried out by the suspected gang.

Santoso said that the kidnappers in this case identified themselves as Deni alias Dani and his elder brother Jerry alias Jefry Saputra.

Deni allegedly kidnapped a three-year-old girl and demanded a ransom of Rp 7 million. However, although the ransom was paid, the child has yet to be returned to her parents.

Earlier this month, Jerry is believed to have kidnapped a nine-year-old girl in Cipayung, using a green Daihatsu Zebra minivan. After the girl's parents paid the Rp 3.8 million ransom, the girl was found dead in a cardboard box in Karawang, West Java. Before being murdered, she had been brutally raped.

Bisa dipotong

In the Cianjur case, the suspects -- using the same green minivan but with different license plates -- kidnapped three girls and a boy earlier this week, for whose safe return a total ransom of Rp 15 million has been demanded.

After the children's parents paid a ransom of Rp 5 million, the boy and one of the girls were released. They were found tied up and naked in a forest in Cileungsi, Bogor, and in a soccer field in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, respectively.

As of last night, the other two children were still being held by the kidnappers.

Media reports said that the victims usually lived in crowded residential areas and did not come from wealthy families.

The reports also implied that the brothers were accompanied by a woman. The perpetrators of three recent kidnappings in Bogor and Tangerang were also believed to be part of the gang.