New crime patterns emerge

By Emmy Fitri

JAKARTA (JP): Newly developed crime patterns ranging from looting to robberies targeting taxi drivers and passengers, along with a rising trend in other street crimes and scams involving U.S. dollars have given Jakarta a reputation as an unsafe place to be.

Never before did anyone think that looting, which used to be associated in our minds with poverty-stricken African countries, would happen in Indonesia, which until last year was still recording high economic growth rates and was ambitiously targeting entry to a "take-off" era to establish itself as a fully modern country.

Not only did the looting really happen in the city, its scale was such that it involved not only the theft of basic commodities like canned food, but also that of large and sophisticated products like motorcycles, refrigerators, air conditioners, and television sets.

This scene was witnessed during the outbreak of the mid-May riots in which thousands of buildings, mainly shops and shopping malls, were set ablaze almost in unison. The riots, which inflicted on the city losses of about Rp 2.5 trillion, led to the downfall of president Soeharto on May 21.

Thousands of people were involved in the looting spree, making off with whatever they could from shopping centers or warehouses near their residences as if they wanted to express their anger at years of being oppressed by the New Order government.

Governor Sutiyoso was very disappointed by the actions of marauding mobs in looting and vandalizing buildings.

"As a governor and people's leader, I am really ashamed that my people's behavior is like that. Such conduct does not properly reflect our personality," he said.

Sutiyoso said he could understand people pillaging foodstuffs on account of hunger during the crisis, but there was no justification for making off with other goods.

"But seeing that they also stole other things like television sets and carpets makes me sad and disappointed."

The widespread looting and wanton destruction of properties, mostly those owned by Chinese-Indonesians, was triggered by the still unexplained shooting deaths of four Trisakti University student protesters on May 12.

Mobs burned dozens of cars and motorcycles, ransacked hundreds of Chinese-owned shops, and damaged a range of buildings including banks, hotels, houses and police stations.

Jakarta, once a safe place in which to stay, turned into a kind of a war zone.

So chaotic were the conditions that many wealthy Indonesians, mainly those of Chinese descent, left the city or went abroad to seek safety. Many countries, including Japan, the United States and Australia, evacuated their citizens residing in Indonesia.

"Our parents in Yogyakarta are worried about our safety and want us to leave Jakarta," Budi Yulianto, 25, a Jakarta resident, said at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on May 16.

The riots caused the deaths of some 1,200 people, most of whom were trapped in burning buildings.

The major question arising from the incident was how the burning and looting could occur almost everywhere in the city. Why were the military and police unable to prevent this from happening?

Before this question could be answered, the looting spree spread into other areas, targeting shrimp ponds, export-oriented garments in containers as well as golf courses and a cattle breeding ranch owned by the Soeharto family.

A similar series of events hit the city again in November, although this time on a smaller scale, following the fatal shooting of student demonstrators at the Semanggi cloverleaf and Atma Jaya University.

Police managed to arrest hundreds of suspected looters in the two upheavals, but as is usually the case no further development was heard of regarding the processing of their dossiers.

Taxi robberies

The frightening trauma of the widespread bloody rioting was exacerbated when robberies and burglaries that once were largely committed at houses, stores or offices apparently spread to taxis.

Police discovered that crooks had begun to steal taxis to commit other, more violent crimes, targeting foreigners and female victims in kidnaps for ransom, or simply killing the victims outright after taking their valuables.

Previously taxis used to be the safest public transportation means as many saw how pickpockets freely operated in public buses or in minivans.

However, not any more. It is not only taxi passengers who have become the victims of the rising tide of crime sweeping the country. Drivers too are often sought out by criminals seeking vulnerable targets.

"On the one hand, we're afraid that our passengers will turn out to be crooks and rob us of our money, but on the other our passengers are afraid that we are intent on robbing them," a taxi driver said.

The succession of crimes reported in taxis has reduced drivers' incomes by up to 30 percent.

In a big haul made in September, police apprehended a gang of robbers and kidnappers who had disguised themselves as taxi drivers and targeted women and foreigners in particular.

Police shot dead three such crooks and arrested eight others in their rented houses in East Jakarta.

Those who were arrested confessed that they had kidnapped and robbed several foreigners.

In January a Japanese man was stabbed to death and his compatriot was wounded when the taxi they were in was robbed in the Cinangka subdistrict of Sawangan in West Java.

The Japanese was the first foreigner to die as the result of criminal offenses this year. At least three foreigners died violently this year, according to existing data.

The two other foreigners were robbed on their way home after visiting a karaoke pub in Blok M, South Jakarta and in this incident the robbers made off with Rp 3 million in the form of cash and a gold ring, abandoning the two in Cinangka subdistrict in West Java.

In early March in a similar exercise two visitors from West Africa were also robbed by a taxi driver and his accomplice on their way back to a hotel in Central Jakarta.

The victims, identified as Akang BT, 41, and Aminau AC, 44, were robbed when they were heading to Hotel Alamanda in Petamburan after visiting Plaza Indonesia.

The modus operandi in the taxi robberies appears classical with suspects pretending to be potential passengers.

In the middle of the journey the thieves pulled out their weapons and forced the drivers to give up their money or the steering wheel.

Or using a different ploy, taxi drivers targeting women or foreigners as their passengers picked up their accomplices in mid-journey and carried out the crime ahead of the passengers' destinations.

It was a lucky break if suspects only wounded the victims and abandoned them short of their destinations. In several cases, suspects without any hesitation killed the victims if they showed any resistance.

In October drivers from "clean" and reputable taxi firms Kosti and Cendrawasih were murdered as they defended themselves from teenagers who tried to extort money from them and steal their taxis.

Street crimes

Showing no fear of being spotted, criminals, either working in groups or alone, also took intersections and toll roads as their theaters of operation either in broad daylight or before dawn.

They pretended to be passerby and street vendors. Otherwise they just stopped cars or waited at traffic lights. Petty robberies at intersections or extortion of money are both old and classical crimes, but due to gripping economic difficulties they mushroomed in every corner of the capital.

Motorists used to be completely safe if they had already locked their car doors or windows but not now.

Hammers and stones as well as crowbars were used to break locked doors and windows.

The culprits stood by at quiet intersections and jumped out at any car without fear.

Public tension has grown in immeasurable ways as crooks have become fiercer and bolder. In an attempt to reduce public tension, police deployed dozens of plainclothes police at vulnerable spots in the city.

There are at least 31 crime spots in the capital considered to be "red zones" and which have been made known to the public in order to fight the criminals.

In November the police launched a special operation, locally called Bersih Jaya, with a total of 240 personnel backed up by soldiers from the Jakarta Military Command to maintain security in the capital.

These patrols have proved effective so far. At least 112 people suspected of committing street crimes have been arrested and 12 of them shot as they resisted arrest and turned to attack officers.

While admitting that streets are unsafe at night or after office hours, city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman revealed that police daily received reports of three to four street crimes at city police headquarters.

However, the number could be much higher as many people preferred not to report to the police.

It is certainly a tough job for police and military personnel in the joint patrols, as it has been predicted that the end of this year will still be marred by flourishing street crimes.

Black money

Middle class people from businessmen to housewives have fallen victim to the rising incidence of U.S. dollar scams allegedly perpetrated by foreigners targeting gullible city residents desperate to make easy money.

A senior officer at Jakarta Police said that the foreigners, most of whom allegedly are Africans, had taken advantage of the depreciation in the value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar to set up a foreign exchange scam.

Since early this year, city police have arrested at least 20 people from various countries suspected of being involved in the scam.

From May to August at least seven local people reported to police with their total losses from such scams being estimated at US$312,500.

Many more however are believed to have become victims but they are too ashamed to report their unfortunate fate.

During the period, police took in one man from the Congo, 10 people from Liberia, two from Nigeria and six from Cameroon for the above-mentioned offenses.

In June, Central Jakarta Police detectives also arrested a 35- year-old Italian for allegedly passing off counterfeit American dollars to a local trader. The latter was willing to accept $1,000 in exchange for his $5,000 without any troublesome procedures, but it later proved he had been passed bogus notes.

In July, police detectives arrested two Cameroon nationals at the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Central Jakarta for allegedly cheating a local out of $4,000.

Suspects Ekango Samuel, 33, and Michael Yenju, 23, -- both reportedly coming from Douala city in Cameroon -- had fooled South Jakartan Gembong TS by telling him they could duplicate greenbacks up to 10 times in a matter of seconds.

In September, after a careful reconnaissance, police apprehended three Cameroonians, five Nigerians, and two Liberians suspected of involvement in a scam carried out in notable hotels in Central Jakarta.

The five Nigerians confessed to having obtained over Rp 40 billion ($3.6 million) from their activities.

From the two Liberians, identified as Bill Smarat and David D. Doe, who were arrested in an Ibis Hotel in Central Jakarta, police seized three boxes containing 3,000,000 pieces of black paper cut to the size of U.S. dollar bills.

The boxes were stamped: "United States of America, Federal Reserve notes."

The black dye smeared on the papers was reportedly to avoid attracting the attention of potential thieves. When pushing for a sale, the con men removed the original dollars from the pile and rubbed the dye off to convince customers of the authenticity of the money.

They attracted customers by offering rates well below normal, and their victims were offered $100 for only $50.

Victims, mostly currency traders and members of the middle and upper classes, have come forward in Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, he said.

The crooks, after giving a brief explanation, simply asked their victims to hand over all the dollars.