Police gun down long time repeat offender
Police gun down long time repeat offender
JAKARTA (JP): A suspected repeat offender, believed to have led a series of robberies and murders in and around the city, has been shot, and killed, by police when he tried to escape after being questioned about the whereabouts of his accomplices.
City police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko told reporters yesterday that the victim was identified as Haris Hasan, 38, an unemployed man well known among city criminals for his criminal activities.
"Hasan was shot at 2:30 a.m., Thursday, at a house in Cisalak, Bogor, West Java," Bambang said.
According to the police spokesman, the house was used by members of his gang to plan their future operations.
After several days of questioning, following his arrest on Dec. 27, Hasan told city police detectives that members from one of his gangs were going to hold a meeting on Wednesday evening at the house in Cisalak to discuss preparations of their next operation, Bambang said.
A team of police detectives were then assigned to accompany Hasan to surveil the house for any sign of his accomplices.
"The police arrived at 7 p.m. but during their surveillance saw no one enter the house," Bambang said.
"At around 2:30 a.m. the next morning, Hasan suddenly leaped up and jumped out the window of the house," he explained.
Police were forced to shoot Hasan because the suspected criminal ignored two police warning shots and kept running, Bambang said.
The shooting of Hasan could be recorded as one of the first suspected criminals shot by police for the beginning of this year.
Police data reveals that a total of 85 suspected criminals were shot to death by police last year.
Criminal record
Based on police records, Bambang said, Hasan had been jailed three times, with a total period of almost 15 years imprisonment, beginning in 1978 for robbery, murder and illegal gun possession.
He was first imprisoned in the Madura penitentiary, East Java, from 1978 to 1979 for being found guilty of killing a victim in one of his robberies. Several months after his release, Hasan was sent to the Nusa Kambangan island prison, Central Java for 12 years for another murder. Last year, he was jailed again, at the Cipinang penitentiary, East Jakarta, for committing a robbery and illegal gun possession, Bambang said.
Prior to, and following his arrest on Dec. 27, police had shot and killed one of his suspected gang members and arrested others.
A member of the four gangs, which have already been identified, was shot during an unsuccessful operation at the house of an Army brigadier general late last month.
"Five others have been arrested. It is believed another 20 are still at large," Bambang said.
He said that police have obtained complete identities of the wanted suspects and, therefore, urged them to surrender immediately.
Police also claim that Hasan was the godfather of at least four gangs of robbers operating in the greater Jakarta area.
"We strongly believe that gangs of robbers supervised by him might be more than four," Bambang said, adding that each gang has one leader and three to nine members, most of whom are repeat offenders.
Hasan was allegedly the main plotter of their operations and had the right to share in the spoils, consisting mostly of vehicles, jewelry and electronic goods.(bsr)