More people hunted over Basuki case

The South Jakarta police are still hunting several people believed to have sold or received valuables stolen from the late painter Basuki Abdullah.

"Since the killing of Basuki in November, we've been ordered to find out as much material evidence as we could and nab those believed to be involved in the murder as well as the trading of Basuki's valuables, which were stolen by the murderers," a police officer told The Jakarta Post here late last week.

"We'll never stop investigating the case until we have been able to uncover all," said the officer, who asked not to be identified.

On Thursday the police nabbed a fence believed to have bought at least eight of Basuki's stolen wristwatches, including a Rolex given to the painter as a gift from President Soeharto. The man, identified as Andi Sembiring, 28, confessed to having bought the wristwatches from one of the three murderers and later sold the items.

Andi, an elementary school dropout, is widely known as the godfather of fences in the city.

His brother, Tetap Sembiring, who is also strongly believed to have played a role in selling Basuki's valuables, is still at large. (bsr)