Mob executes man by burning alive

TANGERANG: In yet another case of vigilante justice, a group of neighbors attacked and burned to death on Thursday night an unidentified man, after one person judged that a crime might be taking place and thus sent out the alarm to the neighborhood.

It was suspected that the unidentified man was trying to steal a motorcycle from an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in Dumpit village, Jatiuwung district, Tangerang.

Tangerang Police detective deputy chief Insp. Kustanto said on Friday that the suspect approached Hamdani, 41, the ojek driver, who was waiting for passengers, and held up a knife while asking the victim to give him the motorcycle.

"Wadi, 39, Hamdani's fellow driver claimed he witnessed the incident and instantly shouted maling, thief! Immediately, dozens of locals rushed out of their homes and shops and spontaneously mobbed the suspect," Kustanto recounted from witness accounts.

Kustanto said that the enraged mob of locals eventually set the suspect alight once they had him down. The man later died of severe burns on the way to hospital.

Despite the punishment meted out, not one member of the mob was held responsible for the violence.

It was the first reported case of burning a suspected thief this year in Tangerang, but last year, according to police records, at least a dozen such cases took place. -- JP