Moonlighting marine found dead at warehouse

JAKARTA (JP): A 29-year-old member of the Marine Corps of the Indonesian Navy was found dead yesterday morning in front of the huge warehouse gates where he spent his spare time to earn extra money.

Corporal Isyanto, a part-time night guard at the warehouse of PT Sinar Mas Andhika, a pipe supplier, was found still bleeding and is believed to have been stabbed in the back with a sharp weapon by an unidentified group of vandals. He was on guard at a huge warehouse on Jl. Agung Karya IV Block D 8-10, Papanggo, North Jakarta when the killing took place.

According to the newly-installed chief of the North Jakarta police precinct, Lt. Col. Edi Darnadi, the dead body of the National Navy Headquarters member was found at 5:30 a.m. by the warehouse's security guard, Jangkung Sumarno, 33, who was scheduled to take over the next 12-hour shift beginning at 6 a.m.

"We couldn't find any indications as to the number of assailants," Edi said. "But, it may have been more than one."

Speaking from the scene of the murder, Jangkung and a number of his colleagues said that Isyanto was alone at that night.

According to Jangkung, the company employed Isyanto and his two other friends from the Navy Headquarters to work the night shift as warehouse guards and used three other civilian security guards for morning hours.

Lt. Col. Edi said that a set of Amano time clocks were found missing at the scene. An unnamed security guard at the warehouse strongly believed that the motive of the murder was to steal the clocks.

"In the past few weeks, at least four table clocks have been stolen from other warehouses nearby," he said.

According to him, a new second-hand clock, such as the one lost at PT Sinar Mas Andhika, costs around Rp 2 million (US$915) each on the black market. (bsr)