Police question two people over armed robbery

JAKARTA (JP): Police are questioning two men strongly believed to have participated in an armed robbery at Hero supermarket in Kali Malang in East Jakarta on Sunday.

"We haven't named the two men as suspects but we are still questioning them in connection with the robbery and the guns used in the crime," head of East Jakarta police detectives Maj. Endang Sunjaya told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

However, other reliable police sources said that interrogation of the two was finished.

Three men were wounded in the robbery. Several shop windows and three cars were also damaged by the shots fired by some of the masked robbers.

In its news report on Wednesday afternoon, a private television station aired the arrest of the two men at a retired servicemen's housing complex in Kali Malang.

The TV station said the two suspects, Imron and Hardi, are relatives of a retired Armed Forces member.

"For the time being, we have not named anybody as suspects in the robbery at the Hero supermarket," officer Endang said, adding that the news report was false.

"We don't want to be sloppy and name someone as a suspect," he said. "We need time to gather as much information and evidence as possible to support our preliminary conclusion before reaching a final outcome," added the senior city detective.

"We'll disclose all the details soon after the investigation has been completed," he said.

According to eyewitnesses, at least three masked men, each armed with an automatic gun, entered the supermarket on Jl. Raya Kali Malang in Duren Sawit at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

One of the robbers randomly fired an automatic rifle in an apparent attempt to create chaos and panic among the customers and supermarket employees.

Soon after the robbery, the masked men left the scene by car. It is believed one of them stole Rp 260,000 from a cashier.

In the parking lot, the group shot an ojek (a motorcycle taxi) driver, who threw a stone at the getaway car.

Two other men were wounded in the robbery, the supermarket's security guard and a coffee shop employee. Both were wounded by stray bullets. Three cars, including a BMW sedan, were slightly damaged by shots.

A total of 14 spent cartridges were found at the scene and have been handed over to ballistic scientists at the National Police Forensic Laboratory Center for further identification.

"We haven't received any report about the identification of the cartridges," said city police spokesman Lt. Co. Iman Haryatna on Wednesday.

The guns used by the robbers are believed to be FN and AK 47 automatic rifles. (bsr)