Police pursue mastermind behind Gunawan's foiled escape
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara revealed on Thursday that police were "pursuing the mastermind" behind the foiled escape on Tuesday of defendant Gunawan Santosa while en route from Salemba Penitentiary to the North Jakarta District Court.
He did not provide any further details on the matter.
Makbul also said that the police had yet to find the source of the .32-caliber Beretta pistol, three sets of handcuffs, a cellular phone and Rp 35.92 million (US$4,177) in cash that were seized from Gunawan.
Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Matheus Salempang said 20 witnesses of the incident on Jl. Pangkalan Asem, Central Jakarta, had been questioned.
He said the witnesses, several of whom were ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, said they heard a gunshot and saw a pistol at the scene of the attempted escape.
Gunawan was being escorted to the North Jakarta District Court to stand trial for the premeditated murder of his ex-wife's father, president director of PT Aneka Sarana Bakti (Asaba) Boedyharto Angsono, and Boedyharto's off-duty Special Armed Forces (Kopassus) bodyguard when he tried to escape.
He was only accompanied by two personnel from the North Jakarta Prosecutors' Office and a driver in the paddy wagon, but no police escort.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said the North Jakarta Police had received two letters on separate days from the prosecutors' office requesting police escorts for transporting detainees.
"North Jakarta Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Djoko Susilo claimed that he received a letter dated March 29 only at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, just hours after Gunawan tried to flee," Prasetyo said. "A courier from the prosecutors' office delivered the letter."
The letter requested the North Jakarta Police to guard 55 defendants on their way to court. The letter was composed on a manual typewriter and signed by Krisna Pramono, chief of general crimes at the prosecutor's office.
North Jakarta Police also received another letter dated March 26 that requested a police escort for transporting Gunawan to court on April 1. The letter, however, was produced on a computer and signed by chief of the prosecutors' office Muhammad Salim.
"A police escort had been requested for Gunawan, but unfortunately the letter arrived too late," Prasetyo said.
Gunawan is being treated for a bullet wound at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.
Police claimed that Gunawan pointed a gun at one of the prosecutor's office personnel accompanying him inside the paddy wagon and ordered the man to uncuff him. They scuffled and the pistol went off, hitting Gunawan in the midriff.
Police said the three suspects -- Sukrisman, Padmawinata and Dadang of the North Jakarta Prosecutor's Office -- did not search Gunawan before putting him into the paddy wagon.
But the police version differed from that of eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime, who said they saw Gunawan fall out of the vehicle and was knocked unconscious when his head hit the asphalt.
They also saw that he was not handcuffed and he was not bleeding when they took him to the nearby health clinic. The police later came and took Gunawan away.