Officer dies of stab wounds at fish market

Officer dies of stab wounds at fish market

JAKARTA (JP): A street tough stabbed and killed an on-duty police officer he feared was coming to arrest him for theft at the fish auction market in Muara Baru, North Jakarta.

Captain Syaiful, head of Operational Affairs of the On-the- Alert City Police Unit, told reporters yesterday that the victim, Corporal Johannes Jeffry Woworuntu, 27, was stabbed to death on Tuesday evening.

A senior officer of the Tanjung Priok Port Police, who refused to be named, said Corporal Johannes was on a routine patrol at the fish market at around 10:30 p.m. when an unidentified man came towards him and suddenly stabbed him at least three times.

The suspect, identified only as Id, 20, was apprehended later by local community members.

Based on preliminary questioning, Id said that he thought that Johannes was assigned to arrest him for theft. Id is widely known in the area as a pickpocket and extortionist.

"My personnel apparently failed to anticipate the sudden attack," the senior port police officer told The Jakarta Post.

Johannes died of stab wounds to his abdomen, chest and face.

A number of senior police officers paid condolence visits to the victim's relatives yesterday afternoon.(bsr)