Police shoot dead alleged gold robber, arrest fifth suspect

JAKARTA (JP): A suspect in last month's gold robbery in Grogol, West Jakarta -- where a police sergeant was killed in a shooting spree -- has been shot dead.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said yesterday that another suspect in the robbery had also been arrested.

Police were forced to shoot Mukrim Adrian on Tuesday night because he resisted arrest and tried to flee, Aritonang said. Mukrim was shot four times in the abdomen and neck.

He said Mukrim and the arrested man, Hadi Santoso, were, respectively, the fourth and fifth people believed to be involved in the Grogol gold robbery.

The first two suspects, Prasodjo and Sudarto, were arrested in East Java late last month, while the third, Iwan, was captured on Sept. 5 in East Java.

"Police teams are now intensifying their search of Java for the three remaining suspects," Aritonang said. "Their identities have been revealed by the arrested suspects."

He said Mukrim and Hadi were arrested in the Senen area, Central Jakarta, after successfully escaping from a police raid on a house owned by their accomplice in Pasuruan, East Java, on Sept. 5.

During the raid, Mukrim, Hadi and the three men still at large -- identified as Pe, Bd and Ar -- were involved in a shootout, during which Sgt. Maj. Sumarto was injured.

The eight men -- including Prasodjo, Sudarto and Iwan -- allegedly stole two kilograms of gold and killed First Sgt. Witono in the Grogol robbery on Aug. 1.

Witono, 27, was killed while escorting a private company employee transporting the gold from Pasar Grogol to Roxy Mas. The officer, a member of the elite police mobile brigade, was shot twice in the abdomen and a machete was used to gash his left hand.

Aritonang said a police investigation had revealed that the four arrested men had been involved in the robbery of a number of bank customers and jewelry salespeople in Jakarta.

"This group of robbers have operated at least since 1995," he said. "The members of the gang are actually more than eight. However, only eight were involved in the Grogol case."

He said that the gang had made off with at least Rp 81.8 million (US$27,266), which they stole from nine bank customers in 1995 alone.

He said the gang had always robbed victims while they were transporting valuable things from one place to another.

"They usually punctured the wheels of the customer's vehicle before the person left the bank," he said. "Then they followed the customers, until they stopped to repair the wheels, and robbed them."

The group had also stolen at least 7.5 kilograms of gold and Rp 18 million this year.

Aritonang said that the four arrested men had denied the allegation that they gunned down Witono or Sumarto, who was now recovering in hospital.

"It is common for a suspect to always name his accomplices, who are still at large, as the shooter or killer."

"However, we already have one who finally confessed that he slashed Witono with the machete," Aritonang said, without disclosing the name of the suspect.

Last week, the police said Prasodjo was believed to be the one who wounded Witono.

"We hope that soon we can catch the three other suspects and seize the gun, used to shoot Witono, for evidence," Aritonang said.

He declined to comment on the military jacket found among the suspects' possessions, which hinted at the involvement of either police or military personnel in the case.

"No personnel have been caught so far," he said. (cst/04)