Paymaster shot dead in scuffle with robbers

JAKARTA (JP): An employee of a private courier firm was fatally shot by one of two robbers while trying to defend a bag containing Rp 20 million (US$8,680) in cash in his office compound in Central Jakarta yesterday.

Yuswara Sutisna, 41, a paymaster at PT First Indonesia City Courier, later died at Tarakan Hospital.

The robbery took place at around 10 p.m. on Jl. Petojo Enclek, next to the Presidential Guards headquarters.

The victim had just arrived at his office after withdrawing the money from the BDNI bank in West Jakarta.

Eyewitnesses said Yuswara and the company's driver, Mamin Sunjaya, were alighting from a Daihatsu van when two men on a motorcycle approached them.

One of the men jumped off the motorcycle and tried to snatch the bag from Yuswara, according to eyewitnesses.

"When Yuswara screamed for help, the robber produced a gun and fired twice into the air to scare the crowd away. He then fired once at Yuswara before heading back to his waiting friend. He left the scene empty-handed," head of the Jakarta detectives Col. Adang Rismanto told The Jakarta Post.

"The bag was broken, causing some of the money to scatter on the ground but none of the bank notes were missing," the officer said.

The incident attracted many people, some of them diners at nearby food stalls. Yet nobody helped Yuswara, apparently too terrified when the robber produced a gun and fired into the air, eyewitnesses said.

According to Adang, the identities of the two men are known to the police.

Based on preliminary investigations, police found out Yuswara withdrew money from the bank on an almost daily basis.

"Normally, he took only a small amount of money, not as much as he did today," Adang said. "We believe that the suspects had kept a close watch on him before trying to steal the money."

Another police officer said he could not fathom the shooting.

"It might be an act of revenge or just a robbery," he added.

According to Mun'im Idris, a forensic scientist at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Yuswara was shot at close range with a .38 millimeter gun.

Mun'im said the bullet hit the victim's left arm and went through his lungs and back.

Yuswara, a resident of Jati Mekar, Bekasi, is survived by a wife, Neneng Juwariah, and two children. (bsr/04)