Nigerian shot dead in police escape

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives shot dead a Nigerian man who was allegedly dealing drugs at his residence in Cempaka Mas Apartments on Jl. Letjen Suprapto, Central Jakarta on Friday.

Detective chief for narcotics Adj. Comr. Mangantas Tambunan said 30-year-old Johnson, who was under police surveillance for three months, was shot for trying to escape.

Tambunan said that after questioning some of Johnson's accomplices who were earlier arrested, several undercover city police detectives went to the apartment and ordered 100 grams of heroin from the suspect.

"As soon as the suspect produced the heroin, the officers proceeded to arrest him. He resisted and attempted to escape," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.

He said Johnson was shot in the back and died at the apartment. The body was sent to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital morgue.

Police seized some 1,000 grams of heroin which were to be circulated throughout the capital, Tambunan said. He said the suspect was a member of an international drug syndicate.(01)