Megawati's son robbed near house
JAKARTA (JP): A son of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri was robbed on a street near his family house in South Jakarta by a group of four armed men riding on two motorcycles on early Monday.
Muhamad Prananda Prabowo, 28, the second of Megawati's three children, was left uninjured but the gun-toting robbers made off with his Kijang minivan of the latest model, a cellular phone and Rp 16,000 in cash.
City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis strongly believed that the gun used by the bandits was only a toy. He however gave no grounds for his hypothesis.
Prananda was quoted by the officer as saying that he was driving alone at about 2:30 a.m. on that quiet morning on Jl. Raya Warung Buncit when he noticed the four men following him.
It is unclear what Prananda was doing out at that time.
"After reaching nearby Jl. T.B. Simatupang, he made a left turn which was then used by the suspected robbers to block his way," Zainuri said.
Prananda, he said, was just about to query the four men when two of the bandits quickly jumped into his green Kijang as one of them pointed his gun at him.
Once inside the car, the crooks then demanded that Prananda drive his vehicle to the nearby entrance gate of the Pondok Pinang toll road that links all areas in the capital, Bogor and Cikampek to towns in other part of Java.
Shortly after entering the toll road, one of the men forced Prananda to get out of the car before it sped off in the Bogor direction, officer Zainuri said.
Police have so far said that the robbery was merely an ordinary crime although it took place not far away from Megawati's house on Jl. Kebagusan.
The city has recorded a growing number of vehicle robberies using similar methods against lonely drivers on board Kijang vans.
Last Monday, two Kijang vans were also robbed and the drivers dumped on a toll road.
Most of the victims were blocked at quiet places to enable the armed thieves to enter the cars and overpower the drivers. (emf)