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)