Police Investigate Funding Source for Fugitive Gangster in Jogja Student Murder

Police are still investigating the murder of a student with the initials AA (18) near a state senior high school in Yogyakarta. Besides pursuing the remaining perpetrators who are still at large, the police are also probing the source of the fugitives’ operational funds. “This is what we are currently looking into, who financed them or whether they raised the money through solidarity among themselves; we are still investigating,” said Yogyakarta City Police Criminal Investigation Unit Head, Kompol Riski Adrian, in Umbulharjo on Tuesday.

AA was found dead near SMAN 3 Yogyakarta on Sunday, 17 May. He was hacked to death after a chance encounter with six gang members in the vicinity. Three of the six perpetrators were arrested while hiding in a safehouse in Cilacap on Wednesday, 20 May. SR (19), also known as Tian, who masterminded the escape and was previously hunted, was finally captured some time later. Tian acted as the liaison between the perpetrators and the gangsters in Cilacap who provided the safehouse. “The role of the individual concerned was that the three suspects we arrested initially did not know the people in Cilacap. The link was Tian,” Adrian stated. “According to Tian’s confession, one of the people in Cilacap had been to Yogyakarta before, had hung out in Jogja, had met Tian, which is how they knew each other. They had met up in person together,” he added.

Tian himself is no stranger to the criminal world. He has been involved in similar cases several times and has faced legal proceedings. “This Tian has been legally convicted several times. Just months ago he did the same thing, but he only assisted at that time, and the case was resolved through restorative justice, yet he committed this act again. He is indeed a repeat offender,” he explained. He was eventually arrested at a friend’s house in Gondokusuman, Yogyakarta City. Police stated that Tian fled by constantly moving around. “It turns out Tian moved residences every three days. When we made the arrest, Tian had only been at his friend’s house for three days, as he indeed moved every three days to deceive officers. From the beginning of the incident until his capture yesterday, the individual concerned never returned to his own home,” he continued.