Police shoot robber

JAKARTA (JP): A suspected thief has been shot by a North Jakarta police officer who wanted to arrest him for a street robbery.

Sukarmin, a 24-year-old jobless man, was shot in the left leg for trying to resist arrest hours after he was reported robbing Abdul Matalit, a passerby, of Rp 100,000 and other belongings in Pela-Pela, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Thursday.

Maj. Bachtiar Tambunan, head of the North Jakarta police detectives, told reporters yesterday that Sukarmin stole Matalit's money and gas lighter at around 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Three police officers went to the crime site at 1:00 p.m. following Matalit's report. Minutes later the suspect appeared and the officers told him to surrender.

The suspect tried to attack the officers with a machete, instead. One of the officers shot him after warning shots were ignored, Maj. Tambunan said. "The officers found a gas lighter and Rp 12,000 in his pocket. He had allegedly spent the stolen money," Tambunan said.

Sukarmin lives in the railway company (Perumka) housing complex in North Jakarta. (bsr/sur)