Police arrest suspected kidnapper

DEPOK: Police arrested on Tuesday a 29-year-old woman suspected of kidnapping the two children of her employer whom she worked for as a nanny for only three days.

The mother, Ruth Siahaan, 32, a resident of Griya Pancoran Mas housing complex, said the new nanny was gone along with Isack, five, and Rebecca, three, when she and her husband arrived home from work at about 8:30 p.m. on Monday.

"We found a bag full of the babysitter's clothes in front of our house. The ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers in the neighborhood said they saw a woman leaving with my children," she said, adding that she got the nanny from an agency.

The police found the three in Kelapa Gading, East Jakarta, at about 10:30 p.m.

Pancoran Mas Police chief Adj. Comr. Antonius Sutjipto said the suspect claimed that she received a phone call from a woman, who called herself Ibu Ira, and asked her to bring the children to a place in Kelapa Gading, offering her Rp 200,000 (US$24) as payment.

"We are investigating the whereabouts of the caller," he added. --JP