Police shoot dead two suspected thieves

JAKARTA (JP): Two suspected robbers were shot dead, one was wounded and two others arrested in separate raids in South Jakarta and Tangerang, West Java, over the weekend, police said.

City police spokesman Lt Col. E. Aritonang said the five suspects were responsible for three different robberies.

"Three of the five suspects were shot because they resisted arrest," he said.

He identified the two dead suspects as Hidayat and Abdullah, the wounded suspect as Ali Subhan and the two arrested suspects as Sutarman and Rukmandar.

Aritonang said that Hidayat, Ali, Sutarman and Rukmandar were believed to be members of a group of robbers who last Monday night robbed two houses, one of which was owned by an Indian couple, on Jl. Margasatwa Raya in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta.

In the robbery, he said, the group wounded the wife of Indian national Ravendra Moona and made off with Rp 550,000 in cash, jewelry, a mobile phone, a wallet and some electronic equipment.

The spokesman said the other dead suspect, Abdulllah, had been wanted by the police ever since he robbed a resident of Kronjo, Tangerang, and made off with Rp 1.1 million in November last year.

He said Abdullah was found early Friday while sleeping in a small prayer house near his home in Kronjo subdistrict of Tangerang.

"He liked to sleep at the prayer house more than at his own house. That's why we caught him there," he said.

Aritonang said Abdullah was shot because he tried to attack the officers and yelled "robber" at them to make local residents suspicious of them. (cst)