Mob burns alive alleged taxi robber
TANGERANG (JP): Angry with the escalating crime rate, dozens of local residents here poured gasoline over a suspected taxi thief and set him alight in front of the Cikokol market in the early hours of Monday.
The fire that burned 35-year-old Badrawi was extinguished a few minutes later by heavy rain.
He died on the way to the hospital, police said.
According to witnesses, the market was busy as usual at about 1:30 a.m., when many traders and customers were startled by screams for help.
When people rushed to see what was happening they discovered a taxi driver, later identified as Suhari, 28, being robbed by two armed men.
"While some people helped the wounded driver, the others chased the two robbers who sprinted off in different directions," a witness recalled.
Shortly afterwards, the crowd returned with Badrawi, a resident of Serang, West Java.
The other man apparently ran to a nearby office complex apparently and escaped in the dark. He was believed to have jumped into the nearby Cisadane River and swam to the other side.
It is unclear who was responsible for setting Badrawi on fire.
Local police who arrived on the scene tried to calm the mob and then took Badrawi to the Tangerang hospital, but he was dead when he arrived.
Police quoted driver Suhari as saying the two men got into his taxi at the Kalijodo red-light district in West Jakarta.
Suhari, a resident of Jl. Kertajaya in Bandengan Utara, North Jakarta, did not suspect anything when the two men asked him to take them to Kamal area through Jl. Teluk Gong Raya in West Jakarta.
When the taxi arrived at Kapuk, one of the robbers pointed a machete at Suhari while the other man grabbed his throat from behind, telling the driver to let them drive.
Suhari's fingers on his right hand were slashed when he attempted to fight back. The men forced him to the back seat by the men, who then sped to Tangerang.
The car spun off the road when Suhari grabbed the steering wheel to attract the attention of the crowd at the Cikokol market.
Police have so far made no arrests. (41/jun)