Police shoot dead taxi driver's robber
JAKARTA (JP): The robber of a taxi driver was shot dead by police Saturday after trying to escape from police custody on Jl. May. Jend. Sutoyo, in Cawang, East Jakarta.
A police sergeant of the East Jakarta police precinct said Harianto stopped a Blue Bird taxi on Jl. Bekasi Timur and asked the driver, Zubairi, 28, to take him to Kampung Melayu bus terminal.
"The suspect threatened to stab Zubairi with a knife and stole his wallet containing Rp 27,000 (US$11.58)," the sergeant, who requested anonymity, said.
He said the suspect slashed the driver's left hand.
Local residents alerted by the scuffle mobbed the suspect, the sergeant said. "They than handed over the suspect to the police."
He said the robbery enraged Zubairi's fellow drivers.
At least 50 drivers visited the police precinct demanding the police turn over the suspect to them, he said. "We managed to calm them down."
The police sent the suspect to Kramatjati Police Hospital for medical treatment on injuries inflicted by the mob, he said.
On the way back to the police precinct from the hospital the suspect tried to escape, the officer said. "We had no other choice after the warning shots were ignored."
The suspect, a 24-year-old street singer, died instantly. He was a resident of Jl. Bulak, Duren Sawit in East Jakarta.
On Friday, with the help of local residents, the police arrested four men for allegedly robbing two President taxi drivers in North and West Jakarta.
In October taxi drivers were robbed in Bekasi, South Jakarta and West Jakarta. The robbers threatened their victims with knives and one of the drivers was stabbed to death.
President Taxi driver Sjamsul Bahri, 40, was found dead in his car with 16 stab wounds in his chest. He was found in the remote village of Setia Mulya, Bekasi. The murderer is still at large.
There have been 28 taxi driver robberies, in which some drivers, including Sjamsul, were killed, over the last three months. The culprits of 18 of the robberies have been caught. (jun)