No major crimes spoil Xmas holiday

JAKARTA (JP): The city recorded no significant crimes during the Christmas celebration thanks to the deployment of hundreds of police personnel to facilitate attendance at churches on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

"Only few common crimes, such as thefts, were recorded during the period," City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko told reporters here yesterday.

Beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, a number of On-the-Alert police teams, including the elite Mobile Brigade, were deployed to back-up local personnel to help secure the crowds at churches and vital commercial and entertainment centers.

"In short, no single instance of interference was recorded in relation to those who celebrated Christmas Day," Bambang said.

In North Jakarta, for example, only two criminal cases were reported during the Christmas celebration.

"There was a burglary at a house on Christmas Eve and a vehicle theft the next morning," North Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Edi Darnadi told The Jakarta Post yesterday. "Luckily, we arrested all of the suspects in the two cases only a few hours later."

In South Jakarta, a housemaid was found dead at her employer's house at Blok B/7-8 in the Taman Gandaria housing complex on Saturday. She was believed to have committed suicide by drinking insecticide.

"Local police are still investigating her case," Bambang said.

In Central Jakarta, a homeless pickpocket was attacked and beaten to death by an angry mob at the Bios railway station in Kota on Saturday evening.

In West Jakarta, a 32-year-old resident of Tanah Sereal was stabbed to death during a heated argument.

In Depok, a 35-year-old man was killed in a traffic accident on Jl. Arief Rachman Hakim.

East Jakarta recorded three fires on Sunday, leaving one dead. Three furniture stores, two cars, 13 houses and one shop were destroyed in the fires.

The total losses are estimated to reach Rp 10 billion (US$4.6 million). (bsr)