Police closer to disclosing murder case of Sembiring
Police closer to disclosing murder case of Sembiring
JAKARTA (JP): Police announced that they have identified the
gang members who allegedly killed ex-convict Johny Sembiring.
"We've come closer to disclosing the case. The killers are
suspected to be debt collectors but we have yet to detain them,"
said Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto, Chief of the City Police.
The two-star general police general said yesterday that
officers from the crime investigation directorate have
questioned a number of persons from debt collection groups
operating in and around the city in connection with the death of
the 62-year-old ex-con turned debt collector.
"The number is so high that I forget to count it, but most of
them operate as law firms or companies like other (legal)
businesses," Hindarto said.
He refused to elaborate, saying that the investigation into
the two-week-old murder is still going on.
Hindarto, however, reiterated that the murderers are believed
to be debt collectors, perhaps Sembiring's competitors.
Late last week, Hindarto said he believed debt collectors
killed controversial Sembiring out of inter-gang rivalry.
Hindarto pointed out the way the kidnappers rammed Sembiring's
BMW before they captured him. The captors deliberately hit the
victim's car from behind with a Kijang minivan three times to
force him to leave the car so that they could grab him.
Sembiring, 62, and his driver Tumiran, 28, were kidnapped by a
group of seven men two weeks ago, shortly after he left his
office on Jl. Tanah Abang II, Central Jakarta.
After the van hit his car repeatedly, both Tumiran and
Sembiring got out of the car to settle the matter.
The seven men then ordered the two into the van at gunpoint.
Blindfolded
The seven men then tied up and blindfolded their hostages, so
that they would not know their destination.
Tumiran was released by the kidnappers later that evening in
Jonggol district, Bogor. Sembiring was found dead the following
day in Cariu district, an area not far from Jonggol.
Sembiring's car was found burned on the same day in Tambun
district, Bekasi.
Preliminary autopsy results of Sembiring's body, according to
police, showed no signs of gunshot wounds, nor injections. One of
his ribs was broken.
According to examining doctors a person can die from pressure
applied to the side of their chest if the pressure lasts up to
six minutes.
The rib's fracture left a wound on Sembiring's chest, which
Bogor police initially mistook for a bullet wound.
Sembiring, 62, was a notorious robber for three decades from
the 1950s on, but in the 1980s he sought to rehabilitate himself
by becoming a debt collector and part-time evangelist who
preached to inmates. (bsr)