Police arrest Brimob officers for robbery
JAKARTA (JP): Five officers of the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police force, including one from the health division and another from Brimob internal affairs, stole two luxury cars from a home in Kebayoran Lama with the help of five civilians.
In the preplanned early Thursday morning robbery, the 10 men also killed a 50-year-old security guard, Musa, at the home where the theft occurred.
The active Brimob officers planned the robbery of a Mercedes and a Nissan Terrano, as well as Musa's murder, one week before the incident with the help of a civilian suspect, Suradi.
The robbery and murder took place at the home of Antonius Budiman, Jl. Nikel No. 38, in the Grogol Utara area. Suradi is Mr. Budiman's driver and lived in the house on Jl. Nikel.
South Jakarta police were working without clues from the suspects, said chief of detectives Maj. Rycko Amelza Daniel.
"We had no idea where to start, considering the quickness of the crime and that no traces (were) left. Still, we decided to take the driver, Suradi, in for questioning," Rycko told reporters.
A resident of Serua, Ciputat, who has been unidentified, called the Serua police station at about 8 a.m. on Thursday to inform the police that a Mercedes had been parked not far from the police station.
South Jakarta police detectives found the car at a home in Ciputat and saw that it was still rolling. A lady identified as Musliah told the detectives that the car belonged to her husband, Diki Gunarto.
"She told us that her husband worked at a computer servicing firm very near University Gunadharma in Kelapa Dua, West Java," Rycko said.
"We went there, and instead caught a (civilian) suspect, Soleh, alias Pe'i. When Pe'i saw us, he immediately tried to run off, so we shot him in the leg."
It was from Soleh, Rycko said, that police caught Diki, the main suspect. Frustrated and frightened by the sight of several officers outside his home, Diki surrendered himself to Ciputat police at 3 a.m. on Friday morning.
His confessions led to the capture of Second Sergeants Yusron, Miftahul Huda (alias Huda), Suharsono of the health division, Novianto of internal affairs, and civilian Widianto.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong announced on Friday that all eight suspects had been captured, including Suradi, who is "receiving treatment at the Kramatjati police hospital in East Jakarta."
"There were 10 people involved in this robbery. Two are still on the run, namely Second Sgt. Tatit Dwi P and civilian Solihin. All five active Brimob officers involved in the robbery will be fired on Monday," Erald told reporters.
Yusron and Widianto were arrested in the rented house of Pe'i in Kelapa Dua, at 7 a.m. on Friday, while Huda was arrested at the home of his future in-laws in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi. This was where the victim's stolen Nissan Terrano and a green metallic Kijang van, used for the robbery and belonging to Huda's future in-laws, were confiscated.
Novianto was arrested by his own internal affairs unit, while city police detectives tracked down and arrested Suharsono.
Separately, staffers at the Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital received a corpse from the National Police. The corpse was identified as that of Tatum Suradi, alias Suradi, 51. There was one gunshot wound on his right leg.
A source at the South Jakarta police station said that Suradi had to be shot, but did not give any explanation as to why and where Suradi was shot and how he died.(ylt/06)