Police nab suspects of brutal robbery

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police arrested on Tuesday six suspects in the robbery that led to the death of Wisnani Safitri, 51, the wife of the secretary- general at the Ministry of Finance.

"We have captured six of seven suspects in this brutal robbery," Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara told reporters.

Makbul said the two prime suspects, Monte and Hilman, were apprehended in Jombang, East Java, and Bekasi respectively.

One of them was an ex-convict, he added.

Police seized Rp 8.2 million in cash, a sickle and a Kijang van from the suspects, Makbul said.

Another suspect, Bagong, is still at large.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo revealed earlier on Tuesday that the first four suspects, Toto Sartono, Surdiono alias Didit, Joko and Cholil, were arrested here as they were about to flee to East Java.

According to Prasetyo, the suspects were bandits who normally targeted bank customers making withdrawals.

Wisnani, the wife of Ministry of Finance Secretary-General Agus Haryanto, was robbed in front of her home in the Ministry of Transportation housing complex in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, on Monday afternoon. Witnesses said the robbers had tailed Wisnani, who had just drawn cash from the Lippobank branch on Jl. TB. Simatupang in South Jakarta and the Bank Mandiri branch in Plaza Arion, Rawamangun.

Upon alighting from her car, the robbers threatened her with a sickle and grabbed her bag, but she refused to release it. Wisnani was severely wounded in the neck and arm following a tug- of-war between her and the robbers, which ended with her being brutally slashed with the sickle.

Wisnani died on her way to the Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun.

She was buried in the Penggilingan Public Cemetery on Jl. Layur, Rawamangun, on Tuesday afternoon.

The robbers made away with a total of Rp 24 million. Wisnani reportedly withdrew the money, which belonged to the Dharma Wanita civil service wives' organization, to fund a pilgrimage to the graveyard of Muslim missionary Sunan Gunung Jati in Cirebon, West Java.