Police arrest sixteen men for cock-fight gambling

Police arrest sixteen men for cock-fight gambling

JAKARTA (JP): Sixteen men arrested on Sunday for gambling on a
cock-fight, one of whom is a retired army corporal, remain in
detention despite an apparent attempt by Kopassus to arrange
their release.

The suspects, many of them Chinese-Indonesians and Madurese,
were caught at the fight by the police at around 3.30 p.m. near
Tanjung Priok railway station in North Jakarta.

Sources told The Jakarta Post yesterday that several hours
after the arrests two men claiming to be members of the Armed
Forces' elite Kopassus red berets came to City Police
Headquarters and asked the police to release the suspects.

The unexpected visitors were rebuked by the police, according
to the sources.

Col. Heniyoso, head of the On-the-Alert City Police squad
which arrested the gamblers, refused to comment on his military
visitors, saying that he had no authority to talk to the press
about it.

Cock fighting, one of many popular traditional games in this
country, is not banned by the government as long as it is not
accompanied by gambling.

"The actual number of people involved in Sunday's game was
estimated to be more than 100 people, but some escaped arrest,"
Heniyoso said.

In the raid, the police also confiscated 16 cocks and a total
of Rp 1.5 million (US$700) in cash from the suspects.

Except for the retired army corporal, whose name is being
withheld by the police, the suspects are being held at the City
Police Crime Investigation Directorate for further investigation.

Cock-fights for gamblers are still being held throughout the
city, such as in Pulomas, East Jakarta.

"We'll arrest anybody involved in illegal cock-fighting
gambling regardless of their rank," Heniyoso said. (bsr)