Police arrest two men for kidnapping

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta Police detectives arrested two brothers for a series of child kidnappings at two separate places on Friday and Saturday, an official said.

Based on the police preliminary investigation, Sam Budi and his brother Agus, both in their 40s, are allegedly responsible for the kidnapping of least nine children, aged between seven and 13 and all from poor families, over the past nine years.

No details of the suspects were available as police have decided to slow down their questioning of the two brothers.

"We found many strange stories in this case. But, hopefully we'll get the truth soon," Central Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Timur Pradopo said.

He also did not disclose whether or not the two are members of a syndicate trafficking children.

According to Timur, it was only the parents of kidnap victim Gerry who reported the disappearance of their child to the police. Police records reveal that Gerry's parents reported him missing on Nov. 30, 1997.

An officer believed that parents of the other children failed to report their cases to the police due to their poor educational background and financial status.

"They did not know what to do," the officer said.

A temporarily police investigation disclosed that the two brothers simply wanted to have and nurture children on their own.

"They had some personal problems with their wives, and as a result they had no children," Timur told reporters.

"Their fault was that they took other people's children."

According to Timur, Sam and Agus could have adopted street children instead of kidnapping them.

"They took street children from the Senen area in Central Jakarta and Pulogadung intercity terminal in East Jakarta," the officer said.

Sam was apprehended at his home in Warengan village in Magelang, Central Java, on Friday while his brother Agus was arrested at the Pulogadung bus terminal the following day.

Timur did not explain why the police had taken years to arrest the two alleged kidnappers.

Arrest

The arrests of the two men was made following a finding by Budiman, aged nine, on Jan. 8 at the Pulogadung terminal by a neighbor of his aunt who was selling cigarettes there, Timor explained.

"The neighbor then informed his finding to Leni, Budiman's aunt, who was kidnapped on Dec. 4," he said.

After taking Budiman home, Leni -- four days later -- reported the kidnapping to the police, saying that Budiman, who had been lured off by Agus with candy and Rp 1,000, knew Sam's home in Magelang.

"With the help of Budiman, our detectives finally arrested Sam in Magelang," Timor said.

Police have so far found seven of the nine children and have already returned them to their respective parents.

Besides Budiman, the six children are identified as Kusnadi, Yudhi, Taufik, Nina, Andry and Gerry Englebert Purba.

The whereabouts of the remaining two children, Ari and Dede, are still unknown.

Sam told reporters at the Central Jakarta Police precinct that Ari and Dede "have been returned to their homes in Sunter, (North Jakarta)."

Police are in the dark about how much truth there is to Sam's statements.

None of the seven children had anything bad to say about their kidnappers.

Gerry recalled how he was picked up at the Grand Cinema in Senen, Centra Jakarta, while he was playing a pinball machine on Nov. 30, 1997.

"Agus picked me up. He took me somewhere, I don't know where. He first gave me a bicycle to ride on, then we played many games together, including shooting. Then he took me to the Pulogadung terminal," Gerry said.

Since then, he said, Agus asked him to help sell cigarettes at the terminal so that they could make enough money to go to Magelang.

"In Magelang, I met Pak Sam. He is a farmer. He said that I could help him sometimes to grow fruit and rice. He was really good to me. He gave me a good bed, he sent me to school, gave me clothes and never woke me up early in the morning."

Gerry said that as soon as Sam and Agus ran out of money, Agus brought him back to the Pulogadung terminal in Jakarta where he saw Agus picking more children up.

"Agus was mean to us sometimes. If we did not listen to him, he would hit us on the head with a wash bucket," Gerry said.

He explained that other than that, both men were good to them.

"They taught us to how to take our own baths. In the beginning they used to soap us," Gerry said.

When asked if Gerry was ever touched on his private parts, he said: "No. They were always very polite with us."

A source at the precinct said: "Agus is impotent, which is why his wife left him. I suspect Sam is the same. It's probably why they wanted kids so bad." (ylt/06)