New crime patterns emerge

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.