Police still questioning bus crash suspect

JAKARTA (JP): North Sumatra police are still questioning a man they suspect of having been the driver of a minibus that crashed fatally in Jakarta last month

Hornas Silitonga has been in detention at the Dairi police precinct in Dairi regency since his arrest on Monday.

On Wednesday a team of North Jakarta police arrived in Dairi to question Hornas, who they believe is Ramses Silitonga, the registered driver of the Metromini which crashed into the Sunter river in North Jakarta on March 6, killing 33 passengers.

The driver of the bus, who was seen leaving the seen and identified at a Jakarta hospital hours later, has been on the run since.

"The team is still questioning the suspect to crosscheck all the data on him," Col. Hari Susanto, National Police spokesman, said yesterday.

Earlier on Wednesday the Jakarta police strongly denied reports that Hornas was the fugitive driver. One of the reasons behind the denial was because his appearance does not match a photograph of Ramses in the possession of the Jakarta police.

When asked whether the differences could be written off to the fact that the picture of Ramses is ten years old, Hari only said "I don't know yet."

It is believed that the Dairi police have made the same mistake the Tambun police in Bekasi did, who arrested a local man, tortured him until he confessed to the crime, and then where forced to release him on March 26.

The arrests are due partly to the inadequate information on the suspect outside of Jakarta. Until yesterday the North Sumatra police did not have all the information on Ramses.

A spokesman of the North Sumatra police, Lt. Col. Leo Sukardi, earlier announced that Hornas was in great shock at the time of his arrest. Leo also said that Hornas worked as a substitute driver for PT Metromini, although he does not have a driver's license. The suspect does own a PT Metromini membership card.

The Dairi police have not given up their efforts and are still checking whether Hornas, who comes from North Tapanuli, and lived at Jl. Manggarai I No. 8, South Jakarta, is their man.

The Dairi police claimed they made the arrest after a man, who identified himself as Simbolon, reported that Hornas was the wanted driver.

"If he is not our man, it is possible that Simbolon made the report for certain reasons," said a source at the Dairi police precinct.

Until yesterday the police had questioned 15 people in connection with Hornas's arrest. (bsr/lem)