Police deny charges of unlawful arrest
JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman asked the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday to drop a lawsuit filed by six suspects in the April 15 foiled robbery attempt and bomb blast in West Jakarta.
Noegroho, represented by lawyer Burhanudin, told the court that his men had met the existing procedures while conducting the arrest of the suspects a day after the blast.
The police officers assigned to apprehend the suspected criminals, he insisted, were already equipped with warrants.
"We've conducted (the arrest) according to procedure," Burhanudin said.
The lawyer also said that the lawsuit against the city police chief should have been filed at the West Jakarta District Court since the scene of the crime was on Jl. Hayam Wuruk in West Jakarta.
But the police admitted that an investigation of the suspects' houses at Warung Menteng village, Cijeruk district, in Bogor was not secured with an approval letter from the local district court as required by law, Burhanudin said.
"But the search of the houses was an emergency and it's allowed by the Criminal Code Procedures," he said.
The lawsuit filed by the six men, identified as Edi Rochadi, Taufik, Naiman, Edy Syaputra, Solehudin and Samsudin, was heard at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday.
The plaintiffs, who were represented by lawyer M.H. Sinaga from the Bogor-based Ampera Legal Aid Institute, asked the court to order the city police chief to release them, saying that the arrest was illegal.
The plaintiffs said the police officers, who arrested them at their houses in Bogor, did not show any warrants.
Presiding Judge Sutan Mangun adjourned the trial until Wednesday to hear the plaintiffs' response.
The plaintiffs are among 21 people arrested by police and being detained at City Police Headquarters for their alleged involvement in the crime.
The detainees claim to be members of Angkatan Mujahidin Islam Nusantara (AMIN) group. Seven of the detained suspects are from Jakarta.
Police have released on bail one of the men, identified as Ichwan.
The blast rocked the three-story Hayam Wuruk Plaza shopping center on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, smashing windows of at least four shops in the complex.
A few minutes later, a robbery occurred at Bank Central Asia's branch on Jl. Keamanan, West Jakarta, not far from the blast scene.
During Monday's hearing, the spouses of the six suspected criminals urged the police to release their husbands immediately due to the improper arrest procedures. (jun)