Police arrest Tommy's private bodyguard
JAKARTA (JP): The City Police arrested on Saturday the private bodyguard of fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra over the illegal possession of a weapon.
The arrest followed a pre-dawn raid on the luxurious house of the bodyguard, identified as Indra Hasan, in the Bina Lindung area of Jatiwaringin, in Pondok Gede, Bekasi, West Java, some 20 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.
"Indra was arrested at about 3 a.m. on Saturday at his home. Police raided his house and found that he was illegally possessing a Colt gun of .32 millimeter caliber complete with five bullets," city police detective chief of general crimes, Comr. Tito Karnavian, told The Jakarta Post.
The suspect has been placed under police custody.
Tito made no comment when asked about the reasons behind the raid.
Indra, 47, is director at Tommy's car company, PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN). Born as Natsir Palembang and is originally from East Nusa Tenggara, Indra also runs Tommy's agribusiness firm, Putra Timor Perkasa.
The suspect will be charged with Article 1 of the 1951 Emergency Law on weapon possession, which carries a maximum punishment of death sentence.
Separately, city police chief of detectives High Comr. Harry Montolalu revealed that Indra had been previously questioned by the Bekasi Police precinct over a similar case.
When asked whether the arrest was part of the police's strategy to capture Tommy, Harry said: "Police will keep on developing Tommy's case, of course by using various ways," he said, without elaborating.
The National Police is also scheduled to question Indra over Tommy's disappearance.
Tommy, the youngest son of ailing former president Soeharto, has been on the run after President Abdurrahman Wahid turned down his request for a pardon early in December last year. The Supreme Court had sentenced him to 18 months in jail for corruption.
The last celebrity case involving weapons was Soeharto's daughter, Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih, who walked out of the Central Jakarta District Court on Dec. 18 last year, after judge Asep Iwan Irawan sentenced her to a 30-day probation period for failing to report the loss of her gun. (01/ylt)