Marines' raid on gambling den 'unlawful'

JAKARTA (JP): A Marine initiative to arrest on Friday 39 gamblers at the Harco Mangga Dua shopping center in Mangga Dua subdistrict, West Jakarta, is outside the bounds of the law, a police spokesman said on Saturday.

Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said the arrest was unlawful, as only police officers were authorized to make arrests.

"If we (police) proceed with the prosecution, the case will be annulled by the suspects' lawyers because of its unlawfulness," Lubis said.

He said homes and buildings in the capital were private property, and that not all officers had the authority to conduct a raid, or make an arrest.

"All officers are allowed to pitch in information and facts for an investigation, but only police officers can make the arrest," he said.

When asked about the relevance of a recent statement by city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman that city residents could make a citizen's arrest over drug use, Zainuri said the two situations were not similar.

"What the police chief meant was that people make the arrest, but then hand suspects over to the police, who are the rightful authorities," Lubis said.

Officers of the Indonesian Navy's Main Naval Base (Lantamal) raided on Friday the third floor of Harco Mangga Dua shopping center. They arrested 39 gamblers and seized Rp 200 million (US$23,530), as well as gambling equipment.

Lubis said he was unaware of the fate of the detainees or the whereabouts of the evidence.

"We have no idea about the suspects, the money or the gambling equipment," he said.

One of the gamblers, who said he had just been released, spoke on Friday with a reporter from Pos Kota daily at the latter's office.

The reporter, who requested anonymity, said the gambler started laughing when telling the reporter of his release. He quoted the gambler as saying that the money was "gone... somewhere between the Navy and the police officers".

Chief of the Navy's Second Main Naval Base Commodore La Ode Dayan said on Friday that he had received information that one of his "boys was involved in the gambling".

"So we tracked it down. None of my members were involved, but we did apprehend the 39 gamblers, Rp 200 million and the gambling equipment, which we plan to surrender to city police for further investigation," La Ode said.

La Ode could not be reached on Saturday for comments on the detainment status of the gamblers. (04/ylt)