Police look for extortioners of three-in-one kids

Police look for extortioners of three-in-one kids

JAKARTA (JP): City police are searching for a dozen people for their alleged role in exploiting teenagers to work as three-in- one passengers-for-hire.

Others are wanted for extorting the small amount of money earned by the children from their operation, which according to the City Regulation No. 11 issued in 1988, is illegal.

"We have already identified one of the suspects, who repeatedly forced children to illegally offer their services and then benefited from the money himself," Maj. Ulyana Y. Purba, a senior officer at the city traffic police directorate, said yesterday.

According to the female officer, the man, in his 30s with tattoos on his body, has been identified by some of the three-in- one kids as Suryadi.

"The children told us that his daily hangout is in front of the Ratu Plaza shopping center on Jl. Sudirman," Purba said.

A number of three-in-one teenagers recently detained for questioning by the city traffic police revealed that they were forced into the job by "some young people" and, in return, they have to give part of their earnings to these people.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, nine-year-old Mustori, one of the three-in-one kids currently undergoing city police counseling said that he never wanted to do the work but "a group of men" always forced him to get into a car and later took a big part of the money from him.

"I'm not a three-in-one kid because I don't want to get into trouble with the police," he said. "I'm a shoeshine boy and I can earn more money from it."

"If we tried to run away or refused to hand over money, we'd have a knife put to our throats," commented Ahmad Rasyid, eight years old, referring to a group of young men who always waited for him in front of the House of Representatives building in Central Jakarta.

Another eight-year-old boy, Abdul Rochmad, said: "Sometimes I could earn Rp 4,000 in one morning but on my way home that man always stopped me and asked for half of my money."

Purba estimated that the number of such racketeers might reach about 10 people.

"All of them have become our target in order to clean up the three-in-one kids from the street," she said.

In general, a motorist has to pay Rp 1,000 per person per route to the passengers-for-hire in order to pass some city main roads, which prohibit vehicles entering with less than three people from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

After receiving payment from a motorist, the passengers-for- hire return to their initial spot and resume the wait for passing vehicles with less than three passengers.

According to the police, the three-in-one people have the means to create traffic congestion, accidents and public disorder, which is why they are conducting the clean-up operation.

Along with the arrest of "illegal" passengers, hundreds of drivers found guilty of picking up the three-in-one kids were fined Rp 25,600, said Purba.

According to the officer, teenagers and women with babies were apprehended in the massive clean-up operation against the three- in-one people.

"Since the beginning of the operation on March 7, we've captured a total of 681 suspects, most of whom are teenagers and unemployed women," said Purba, who led the operation against the three-in-one people.

The suspects, she said, confessed that their daily earnings reached between Rp 1,000 and Rp 8,500 during the three and a half hour period.

Some of the detained suspects have been apprehended several times before.

Head of the city traffic police directorate Col. Soeroso said that the passengers-for-hire are charged with illegally offering their services at prohibited places as stipulated by the City Regulation No. 11.

If found guilty, a violator faces a maximum fine of Rp 50,000 or a maximum of three months imprisonment under the article.

"All of them were detained on the spot, such as while attempting to stop passing cars or while traveling in the cars," Purba said.

As the law can be applied on suspects of 17 years or older, the detained children are given extra counseling and asked to sign a paper stating they will not repeat the offense.

The directorate yesterday held an on-the-spot trial for seven three-in-one people, who were fined Rp 10,600 per person and asked to sign statements.

"As we are not allowed to detain these suspects, we have to immediately try them and remind them not to do it again," Col. Soeroso said. (bsr)