Police perplexed by private taxi robberies

JAKARTA (JP): Tangerang Police officials have been left baffled by two armed robberies in a private van taxi, which occurred on Monday and Tuesday, targeting female passengers of domestic flights arriving at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

"We are investigating both cases. We have tightened security in the airport compound and will be assigning undercover police officers for a specific operation ... to apprehend these robbers," Tangerang Police deputy chief Comr. Ricky Wakanno said on Wednesday.

"We have been quite shocked by the incidents. We are questioning coordinators of taksi gelap (private taxis) in the Soekarno-Hatta airport compound," he added.

In Tuesday's incident, Arianti Simbolon, 38, a mother of three, arrived in Jakarta on a Garuda Airlines flight from Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra.

"She was to stay in Jakarta for a day before leaving for Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday, where her sister's wedding reception was being held," a city police detective, who requested anonymity, said on Wednesday.

The detective said that, upon reaching Soekarno-Hatta Airport, four men approached Arianti and started to offer her temporary accommodation services. They did it with such persistence that she was turned off. She told them that she would look for her own lodgings.

As she was walking off, the detective said, one of the four men chased her and held a gun to her back.

"Arianti was shocked and terrified, and obediently got into the Kijang van waiting for her. Once inside the van, the robbers stole her gold jewelry, a Rolex watch and Rp 6 million in cash," the detective said.

"An hour later, the men threw her out at the Semanggi cloverleaf, where they handed her a Rp 10,000 banknote, and warned her not to look back at their faces, before speeding off."

Under the same circumstances on Monday, Lisa Mamonto, 33, from Pangkal Pinang in South Sumatra, was on an overnight stopover in Jakarta before traveling to Manado, North Sulawesi, the next day.

Lisa said that at the airport she was offered transportation by a man operating a private taxi.

Commonly referred to here as taxi gelap, private sedans and vans operating as taxis without a meter can be found throughout the capital.

After agreeing on a price of Rp 55,000 to be taken to Cikini in Central Jakarta, where she would find accommodation for the night, Lisa got into the Kijang van with the man.

But as they were leaving the airport, two men suddenly emerged from the rear of the van and threatened her with a sickle.

Lisa told the Post on Monday that she handed over the Rp 4 million she was carrying, three bags she was traveling with and her handbag, which contained her ID card and other important possessions.

"They just drove me around, before throwing me out in the Semanggi cloverleaf area. The three men warned me not to look at their faces, so I didn't. I then walked to the nearby city police headquarters," she said.

When asked where she would stay for the days to come, she said that since she had absolutely no money, she would stay in "any mosque in the area" and then write a letter to her husband.

"I don't have a telephone at home ... I have to write to him to fetch me," she said. (ylt)