Mystery still shrouds Nyo Beng Seng murder
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): After seven months of hard work, city police announced they have arrested two street criminals believed to have been involved in the killing of entertainment businessman Nyo Beng Seng.
Yesterday a reliable police source said the two alleged criminals, identified as Sudartono, 40 and Agiono, 36, were arrested by two plain-clothes detectives just after disembarking from a Singapore flight at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Thursday evening.
Police are still in the dark about the ring leader and the motive of the murder. They are now looking intensively for two people believed to have been directly responsible for killing Beng Seng
A number of senior police officers interviewed by The Jakarta Post yesterday confirmed the arrest but refused to be named or give further information. "Information concerning the arrests is the police chief's privilege," said an officer at the Crime Investigation Directorate.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto was not available yesterday for further information.
As of yesterday afternoon, the two suspects were still being questioned by detectives at the Crime Investigation Directorate.
Soon after the arrest at the airport, the two were detained at the City Police penitentiary.
"We got quite an amount of information from these two," said one of the investigators. "They admitted they were ordered (by someone) to guard the site of the planned murder in order to facilitate the plan of the murder."
Marijuana
Sudartono, who is described as being fat, and his accomplice Agiono, were first arrested on suspicion of drug possession.
"Based on this reason, we were then allowed, by law, to pick them up for questioning for their role in Beng Seng's death," the officer said.
As of yesterday no further information could be obtained concerning the business activities of the two suspects in Singapore.
Last month two senior detectives were assigned to find the man behind the brutal killing. Local reports strongly suggest the detectives are focusing their investigations against one of two main suspects, who are Hong Lie and A Lay, both believed to be in Singapore.
Beng Seng, alias Darmansyah Suyadi, 57, was savagely stabbed
to death 12 times in the middle of the night on April 15 this year by at least four masked men in front of his second wife's mansion on Jl. Pluit Kencana Raya 128 in North Jakarta.
Beng Seng's second wife, Tuty, told the police that on the way to the hospital, her husband mentioned the two names as being the plotters of his murder.
Many police sources also believe the killing was planned by rival gambling businessmen.
Besides being known as the owner of the Irama Tara cassette and video recording firm, Beng Seng also owned a number of nightclubs, massage parlors and beauty salons and operated gambling dens in Genting Highland in Malaysia, Christmas Island, Las Vegas in the United States and Macao. He is also known as an agent for local people who gamble overseas.
Hong Lie and A Lay are also noted figures in the gambling business.
Medan gang
Hong Lie, A Lay and the late Beng Seng are of Chinese descent and grew up in Medan, North Sumatra, before migrating to Jakarta years ago.
The two detained suspects are also known as noted street criminals in Medan, police said.
In an interview with Forum Keadilan magazine in Singapore recently, Hong Lie, 37, denied the accusation of Beng Seng's wife, saying that he had no problems in his relationship with the deceased.
On the other hand, Hong Lie strongly believes that Tuty had a love affair with A Lie (his name for A Lay) alias Leo Kartono, who then hired his employees, Kiki Haryanto and A Gu, to kill Beng Seng in order to acquire the assets of the victim.
Kiki Haryanto and A Gu are believed to be listed as the most wanted people by the police in relation to Beng Seng's killing.
"The two fugitives are staying overseas," said an officer.
Earlier, the key witness of the killing, Beng Seng's driver Saman, 45, stated that he saw at least four masked men, all stab and kill his employer. (bsr)