Police arrest female kidnapper

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police arrested on Wednesday morning a 40-year-old woman, identified as Lydia, when the suspect of a kidnapping case was making a withdrawal from an automatic teller machine (ATM) in Tamansari, West Jakarta.

"We arrested her as she was withdrawing Rp 10 million (US$1,099) of the ransom transferred by parents of the kidnapped children," city police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said on Wednesday. "She is a suspected member of a kidnapping syndicate. Eight other members are still on the run."

The syndicate is thought to have abducted on Monday two students of Jubilee Junior High School, which is located in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. The kidnappers demanded a Rp 40 million ransom for each boy.

Johanes, 13, was kidnapped on his way home from a private lesson on Jl. Danau Sunter. No details were available on how he was abducted.

Nicholas, also 13, was abducted from Mal Kelapa Gading. According to Nicholas, several men approached him, claiming to be his father's colleagues and asked him to come with them because his father was in trouble.

The kidnappers were traced to Bintaro, where it is presumed they are holding Nicholas and Johanes, and contacted the two boys' parents for ransom. They instructed the parents to transfer the money to a Bank Central Asia (BCA) account.

On Tuesday, the parents transferred the ransom and reported the case to the police, who immediately contacted BCA and asked the bank to monitor an account belonging to Lydia.

That same afternoon, the two boys were returned home safely by taxi to Nicholas' house on Jl. Bungur Besar, Senen, Central Jakarta.

"This morning, Bank BCA called us, saying their online data showed someone had withdrawn money from Lydia's account at the ATM in Tamansari," Salempang said, adding that the police arrived on time to arrest Lydia.

The kidnapping was the second in Jakarta after a Don Bosco Junior High school student in Pulo Mas, East Jakarta, was abducted last month.

The student's father, Tjin Liang, 45, followed the kidnappers' demand to transfer Rp 20 million to their account. The boy was released safely after the kidnappers received the ransom.

Police have yet to confirm if the two kidnappings were committed by the same syndicate.