Police deny suspect died in custody

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The police are denying that a man detained in connection with a fatal robbery who died yesterday passed away while in custody.

Bogor Police Chief Col. Dadang Garnida confirmed the death of Cece Tajudin, a 41-year-old father of three, and told a press conference yesterday that the man died on the way to the Indonesian Red Cross hospital.

"I was told that Cece was dying at about 4.45 a.m. yesterday and I insisted that he be rushed to the hospital. However, hospital doctors said Cece had died by the time he arrived," Dadang said.

He said he could not say anything about the cause of Cece's death as the post mortem report has yet to be issued by the hospital. "The examination took only about two or three hours, but the result cannot be made available today," he said.

Cece, along with Norman Lubis, was a suspect in the robbery on the Jagorawi toll road on Oct. 11 which claimed the life of Zaenuddin Lesmana.

According to their reports to the police, Cece and Norman were traveling with Zaenuddin, who had just withdrawn Rp 650 million of his company's money from the Bogor branch of the BRI bank, when a Kijang van intercepted their car.

Three people jumped out, one of whom shot Zaenuddin from behind after smashing the rear windshield of Zaenuddin's car. The robbers stole bags containing Rp 350 million from the car's trunk. The other Rp 300 million was left behind.

Police queried Norman and Cece's reports as neither of them was hurt in the incident. After a series of investigations, police announced that they were suspects in the robbery.

During interrogation, Cece, a resident of Bekasi, said the gunman was a friend of his, identified only as S, an Army sergeant.

Soon after the shooting police found shells from a FN 45 gun at the crime scene, indicating that the suspects were members of the Armed Forces. They are still at large.

Cece's relatives said that the suspect had been in local military police detention before being transferred to police custody. There is no official confirmation of this. (21/sur)

Crimes -- Page 3