Police arrest robbery suspect

JAKARTA: Central Jakarta Police detectives arrested a man suspected of having masterminded a series of armed holdups of bank customers in Jakarta after a month-long investigation into the crimes, a police officer announced on Tuesday.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said police seized the suspect, named Agung Widodo, 29, in Sunday's raid on his hiding place in Bantul, Yogyakarta.

He said Agung had masterminded several armed robberies on bank customers here, including one in front of a branch office of Bank Central Asia in Bungur, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 25 in which a police officer and a suspected robber were killed.

Anton also said that police had seized a total of 124 suspects in some 83 drug-related cases during its three-week anti-drug campaign aimed at cracking down on the crime in the capital.

Police had confiscated 104.45 grams of heroin, 39,151 ecstasy pills, 60.1 kilograms of dried marijuana, 30 liters of liquefied ecstasy raw material, three syringes, and other devices for making and consuming drugs during the so-called Antik Jaya 2001 operation since Oct. 25.

He added the police also captured 42 suspects of crimes related to the illegal possession of alcoholic beverages, firecrackers and pirated video compact discs (VCD).

Police seized a total of 381 bottles of alcoholic drink, 1.8 million firecrackers and 633,600 VCDs, he said. --JP