Police in the dark about death of a Saudi citizen

Police in the dark about death of a Saudi citizen

JAKARTA (JP): Police remain mystified by the murder of a 55- year-old Saudi tourist, who was found dead Friday morning in his room at a small hotel in Central Jakarta.

"We have made no significant progress thus far, and are still questioning a number of the hotel's employees and gleaning all evidence from the scene to find out certain clues to crack this case," Maj. Tubagus, head of the Menteng police sub-precinct, who is handling the case, told The Jakarta Post Saturday.

Abdul Karim al-Mubarak, a resident of Damam, Saudi Arabia, was found with three severe stab wounds on his chest at around 11 a.m. Friday in room number 59 of Hotel Karya II, on Jl. Raden Saleh 32.

The hotel room goes for between Rp 50,000 (US$22.99) and Rp 80,000 ($36.99) per night.

Police members who arrived on the scene after they received a report from the hotel found Karim's body covered by a blanket, while a towel had been stuffed into his mouth.

The case was first identified by a hotel security officer, Ahmad, after receptionist Sucipto asked him to take a look at Karim's room because he had experienced difficulty passing a phone message to the room.

After knocking on the door several times and getting no reply, Ahmad went to the back of the room to look inside, and he saw Karim lying with blood on his nose and a blanket covering his body.

The two hotel employees then informed the owner of the hotel about their findings before reporting the case to a nearby police station.

Maj. Tubagus said Cipto Mangunkusomo general hospital conducted a postmortem on Karim's body. He also informed the Saudi embassy about the case.

The police have learned that Karim was on his first visit to Indonesia and had stayed at the hotel for six days before he died.

Everything at the scene was found to be in order, except for a small box believed to have been used by the victim to store cash.

The box was found empty, Tubagus said. (bsr)