Police shoot dead two street criminals
Police shoot dead two street criminals
JAKARTA (JP): Intensified police measures to combat suspected
criminals -- 12 hoodlums have been shot this year already -- has
failed to curtail street criminal activity.
City police are inundated with scores of accounts of street
robberies and extortions every day.
In separate incidents on Wednesday evening and Thursday, city
police detectives shot two more alleged street criminals after
they were spotted engaging in criminal activity with their
accomplices.
Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis reported that
officers at both scenes shot the suspects only after they
resisted arrest and assaulted police.
"They ignored our men's warning shots," he said.
Thursday's victim, identified as Endang, alias Iyon, 35, was
shot at around 4:30 a.m. in the Jembatan Besi area, Velbak of
Tambora, West Jakarta.
He died of a shot wound to his chest. He was also shot in the
hand.
Iyon and his three accomplices were spotted by police officers
robbing a passerby.
"Police shot him when he tried to flee and threatened police
with a sharp weapon," Lubis said.
Iyon's three accomplices have been identified but remain at
large.
Wednesday's incident involved Wawan, alias Awang, 24, who was
shot in Teluk Gong, Penjaringan in North Jakarta, at around 9
p.m.
Officer Lubis said that Awang and two friends were seen by a
plainclothes officer threatening a female motorist with a sharp
weapon at a traffic light.
"The three surrounded the motorist, Lili Liana, and demanded
valuables."
A warning shot was fired after the plainclothes officers heard
Lili scream for help when one of the gang snatched her necklace.
The shot prompted the three suspects to sprint in different
directions. Awang was then shot dead, Lubis said.
The bodies were taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital,
where they were to have postmortem examinations, and then
released to their respective families for burial.
Hospital staff said the families had refused permission for
the hospital to perform postmortem examinations on the bodies of
the two men.
Their deaths are a reminder of a worrying spate of violent
crimes in the city.
Many Jakartans consider the current rash of street crimes the
worst in the capital's history.
Despite a police operation to net suspected criminals and
hoodlums, the number of street crimes continues to rise.
When apprehended, most suspects blamed the continuing economic
crisis as the major cause for their criminal involvement.
(emf/ivy/bsr)