Police probe cause of mass mobbing

Police probe cause of mass mobbing

JAKARTA (JP): Police in the East Java cities of Surabaya and
Gresik are still investigating an incident in Menganti district
in which nine people were mobbed to death Thursday because they
were suspected of trying to steal a motorcycle.

"We are investigating the case," Col. Amanuddin Zain, chief of
the Surabaya Police Precinct, said yesterday.

The bloody incident began when Bibis villagers in the district
caught Agus Effendy allegedly trying to steal a motorcycle
Thursday night. Agus told the villagers he was with eight other
people, who were waiting for him in a minibus.

Angered by a recent spate of motorcycle thefts, the villagers
dragged Agus to a security post and tortured him to death.
Hundreds of other villagers then sought Agus' friends and
attacked them.

Agus died on the spot, while the other eight died on the way
to the hospital. The mob set the vehicle on fire after they
claimed to have found tools that could be used to steal
motorcycles.

Col. Sudarto, chief of the Gresik Police Precinct, deplored
the brutality.

"The villagers tried and punished the nine people themselves
rather than handing them over to the police. Besides, there is no
evidence yet that the nine people were a gang of thieves,"
Sudarto said.

He also said the tools could in fact have been planted by the
villagers to create the impression that the nine were thieves.

He said nobody had been arrested for the incident, but that
police had questioned four of the villagers.

Nono, a critically ill pedicab driver who was transported in
the minibus from Surabaya to Bibis village before the incident
took place, is an important witness in the case.

"We hope he will get better soon and so he can tell the true
story about whether the nine victims (were actually thieves)," he
said.

Chusnul Chotimah and Lardy, two lawyers representing the
victims' families, said yesterday that they would sue the Bibis
villagers.

Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto, chief of the Brawijaya Military
Command overseeing East Java, also deplored the incident, saying
it would not have taken place had the villagers been able to
restrain themselves. (rms)