Police chase end two-day kidnap drama

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Santoso, a 54-year-old auto shop owner, could never have imagined that he would be a victim of a kidnapping by one of his customers.

On Monday at around 7 p.m. he had just closed his shop in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta, which mostly sells spare parts for Australia's Holden cars, when six men approached and forced him into a waiting car. Santoso was later taken to a house in Cibinong, Bogor regency, and chained to the small lavatory wall in the house for almost two days.

One of the main suspects, Farid Rafli, 40, a long-time customer at the shop, allegedly called the victim's wife and demanded that she pay Rp 300 million (US$35,714) in cash as ransom. They threatened her get the money quickly or she would never see her husband alive again.

On Tuesday evening, Mrs. Santoso contacted Farid who told her to leave the money just after midnight, wrapped in a black plastic bag, near the Golden Hotel on Jl. Gunung Sahari Utara, Central Jakarta. Unbeknownst to the kidnappers, she also contacted the Jakarta Police for help.

Mrs. Santoso and her son took a taxi early on Wednesday at 1 a.m. to the designated location with some police detectives tailing them.

Farid, who already suspected that the wife might contact the police, called her twice to change the location. Finally, he told her to stop at Jl. Thamrin, near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

Mrs. Santoso and her son walked toward the Sudirman railway station, formerly known as Dukuh Atas, around a kilometer from the traffic circle. She left the black plastic bag full of money on the sidewalk in front of the station, as ordered by Farid.

But Farid's luck ended as the detectives, who had been hiding nearby, started firing their guns just when he was about to snatch the bag.

He tried to flee but the detectives caught him near the traffic circle at about 2:30 a.m.

"He was running fast," said detective First Insp. Danang.

The police detained Farid at the city police headquarters and started questioning him. They also returned the money to Mrs. Santoso.

Based on the information gleaned from Farid under interrogation, the police took Mrs. Santoso and son to Farid's home in Cibinong and found Santoso still chained to the wall.

"He was in fairly good condition when we rescued him," Danang said.

Farid told reporters that his kidnapping gang had fed him well.

"We gave him bread, meat soup, water and even clean clothes."

He admitted that his gang had initially just planned to rob Santoso's shop. But there was only Rp 80,000 in the petty cash box.

"After having a discussion, we agreed to kidnap him."

He claimed he once also kidnapped a man from Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, in March 2001, cashing in on Rp 120 million from the ransom payment. He also admitted that he had served 15 years in prison for murder in the Netherlands.

The police are still searching for Farid's five accomplices.