Police reluctant to elaborate on Hutagalung case
Police reluctant to elaborate on Hutagalung case
JAKARTA (JP): The police are now saying that an Indonesian man
arrested recently in Malaysia might be a suspect in last year's
killing of six family members in Bekasi, despite reports to the
contrary yesterday.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo told reporters here
that the man, identified as Salim, is still in Malaysia but could
soon be extradited to Jakarta if police here can collect enough
evidence to prove his role in 1994's most gruesome murder.
"But I cannot say when the extradition will take place,
because the investigation is still underway," Dibyo said.
"I really believe that you all fully understand what I mean,"
he said. "So, please do not force me to clarify it."
On Monday, Dibyo issued a confusing statement that the man who
was arrested by Malaysian police for failing to show legal entry
documents "is not the person" they want for the killing.
"It's true that there was a man questioned there but he's not
the person we want," said Dibyo on Monday, adding that the
investigation of Salim, carried out by senior Jakarta detectives
in Malaysia, concluded that his fingerprints and face did not
match those of Suyono, alias Gendut ("Fatso"), the prime suspect
in the murder. Salim is thin, not fat like Gendut, Dibyo told
reporters on Monday.
Yesterday Dibyo confirmed that Bekasi police detectives are
still collecting "extra information" in connection with Salim's
possible role in the killing of Herbin Hutagalung's wife and four
children plus his sister-in-law.
Bekasi police brought Herbin and several pieces of murder
evidence to City Police Headquarters on Monday for reasons still
unknown. Many speculate that Herbin was called in to identify
Salim. But Dibyo declined to explain his department's motives.
Since the killing on Jan. 5 last year, police have only named
Suyono, alias Gendut, as the solitary suspect in the murders.
But, a year later, Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto (at
that time), announced that the brutal killing was committed by at
least six persons, including Gendut.
According to Hindarto, police actually arrested one of the six
suspected killers a month after the killings took place without
notifying the public.
The man, identified as Marsi, 26, and was arrested in his
hometown of Tulungagung, East Java,
Marsi has since been used by the police to help find Gendut
and the other suspects around Java, Bali and Sumatra.
According to Hindarto, Marsi had come to his friend, Gendut,
one day in January last year asking for a job as a construction
worker. Gendut asked him to come along with him and find a job
together with four other people.
The group came to Herbin's house in a minivan and committed
the crime, Hindarto said. (bsr)