Over 5,000 arrested in anti-crime crackdown

JAKARTA (JP): More than 5,000 people have been arrested in a three-day crime crackdown, Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said yesterday.

Hamami said the 5,356 people arrested in Operasi Kilat Jaya (OKJ) III, were motorists and pedestrians found carrying guns, knives, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs, including Ecstasy.

Police confiscated Rp 3,920,600 (US$1,693) cash, 248 motorcycles and 82 cars which police believe to be stolen, Hamami said.

The operation involved 1,000 officers and was carried out throughout Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok and Tangerang. The operation went from midnight until dawn.

Of the 5,356 arrested, there were 1,033 suspected criminals, 325 prostitutes, 372 drug abusers and 130 people possessing pornography.

The remaining 3,496 people were netted for minor violations like not carrying an identity card or a drivers' license.

Evidence confiscated included three guns, two toy guns, one home-made gun, 180 knives, about two kilograms of marijuana, over 30,000 bottles of alcohol, dozens of pornographic laser discs and videos, 477 Ecstasy pills and about 53,000 barbiturate pills.

Hamami did not say if everyone arrested would be tried.

"Those found carrying sharp weapons and guns, mostly repeated offenders, will be prosecuted soon," Hamami said.

"They might be planning to commit crimes," he said.

Criticism

The operation, which will be conducted again on a larger scale, has not yet been proven to affect the number of crimes in the city.

Many people accused the police of lacking professionalism.

They said police conducted the operation only to meet their superior's targets.

"As a result, they did not follow the proper procedures. We did not know our rights when they questioned us," one person said.

A private employee, Joko, said: "A friend of mine was netted in the operation by Central Jakarta police officers for carrying what the police said was pornographic laser disc. Sadly, the police also took his handphone and Rp 1.8 million cash which, of course, has nothing to do with the discs,"

A university student living in Central Jakarta questioned the police's knowledge of the law.

"They arrested me after they found laser discs, which I just rented from a rental shop, in my car. They said that the discs were porn movies. I told them many times they were ordinary films, but still they listed me as a suspect," the student said.

In Tangerang, a butcher and his wife were netted on the operation's first day for carrying a knife he used for work.

The couple were driving to a local market when police stopped them and found the beef knife in the car.

It is still unknown whether the couple had been released or not.

Hamami asked police precinct heads whether all the materials were netted in the operation.

"I'm afraid these items were from the officers' kitchen," Hamami said while looking at the 180 sharp weapons.

Besides reducing general crimes, the operation was also designed to combat the recent spate of robberies against taxi drivers and bank customers, Hamami said.

For that purpose, a separate operation was conducted by Jakarta police detectives to back up personnel in the OKJ III operation. (bsr/27)