Police arrest seven for 'witchcraft' killings

Police arrest seven for 'witchcraft' killings

BOGOR (JP): Police detectives in Sukabumi arrested 12 people
suspected of killing at least seven Tegal Beleud villagers whom
they accused of practicing witchcraft.

Col. Edi Darnadi, the chief of the Bogor Regional Police,
which also oversees Sukabumi, said on Thursday the 12 men were
suspected of killing and dumping the bodies of the seven victims
in separate incidents last month in the Cigaranten and Cigadok
areas of Sukabumi.

"The suspects were arrested in different raids over the past
few days by 27 police detectives from the Sukabumi precinct,"
said Edi, who was accompanied by Sukabumi Police chief Lt. Col.
Tubagus Anis.

According to the preliminary police investigation, none of the
victims had ever been involved in any kind of witchcraft.

Tubagus added: "They once tried to cure their neighbors,
that's all."

Edi said the suspects were extortionists, who forced the
villagers to hand over their valuables and livestock.

"They visited the villagers and accused them of practicing
witchcraft. The crooks then demanded the villagers' money and
valuables on threat of violence.

"If the villagers complied with the suspects, they placed a
sign on their house that read: 'Not a practitioner of black
magic,'" he said.

"Those who had no money or expensive goods had to give their
livestock to the suspects," Edi said.

The bodies of two of the seven victims have not been
recovered.

Edi identified two of the suspects as senior staff at the
local administration office, while the other 10 were farmers.

As a reward to the 27 Sukabumi detectives involved in the
arrests, Edi presented the officers with money on Thursday.

Over the past few years, the country has witnessed a series of
killings targeting alleged practitioners of witchcraft. Most of
these murders occurred in cities in East and Central Java.

The majority of the murders remain unsolved, and some police
officers have said their investigations indicated political
motives behind some of the slayings.

In September 1998, at least 150 people in six regencies in
East Java, including Banyuwangi, were murdered.

The initial victims of the killing spree were people suspected
of practicing witchcraft, but the killers then began targeting
Muslim preachers. (21/bsr)