Police arrest three suspects in the murder of expatriate

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have arrested three suspects in the murder of German Helmut Kleinen, who was found dead on Monday morning in his rented house on Jl. Bangka IID in Mampang, South Jakarta.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said on Tuesday that Kleinen's domestic helper, identified as Slamet Untung, 24, and two of Slamet's friends, identified as Fauzi, 24, and Jamil, 24, had been arrested for conspiring to murder Kleinen.

"The motive behind the murder was money. They wanted to rob Kleinen to get money. When the German resisted, they killed him," he said.

Investigators arrested the three suspects as Slamet, who was interrogated as a witness right after police arrived at the crime scene, confessed after hours of questioning that he and his two accomplices were responsible for Kleinen's death.

"He helped his two accomplices enter the house early on Monday morning, led both men to his employer and showed them where his valuables were kept," Tjiptono said.

The two accomplices then tied Slamet up and made it look like he had been beaten up.

Slamet's friend Yudi came by at around 7:00 a.m., and was surprised to find Slamet lying bound and gagged on the floor.

Yudi freed Slamet, and together they went upstairs to look for Kleinen.

They found him lying on the floor in a pool of blood with his hands and legs tied. He had stab wounds to his back, neck and left arm. They then called the police.

Later in the evening, Jamil was arrested at his home in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, while Fauzi was apprehended at his uncle's home in Bekasi, West Java.

The three suspects are now in police custody at the Mampang station in South Jakarta.

Police said after checking the crime scene that they had found that a number of Kleinen's belongings, including a laptop, a camera and an expensive watch, were missing.

They said they suspected the robbery was an inside job as no damage had been found on the gate, windows or doors of the house.

Suspecting that Slamet could have been involved in the murder, the police immediately started questioning him at the nearby police station, and after several hours he was eventually named a suspect.

The incident was the second murder of a foreigner in the last three weeks.

Two weeks ago, an Australian citizen identified as Frans Louis Merre, 70, was found dead in his house in Tugu subdistrict in Depok.

Police suspect that relatives of his domestic helper were involved in the murder.

However, they said that they were still trying to ascertain the suspects' whereabouts.