Police warn of birth of organized crime

JAKARTA (JP): Deputy to National Police Chief for Operational Affairs Maj. Gen. Koesparmono Irsan revealed here yesterday that the growing number of criminal groups in the city could lead to the eventual birth of powerful organized crime groups.

Although no organized crime groups operate in Indonesia, all parties, including members of the community, have to pay much attention to the rampant spread of small-scale criminal groups here, the senior police officer told reporters.

"Many organized crime groups all over the world, such as the Hong Kong-based Triad gang and the Sicilian Mafia, were born from small-scale criminal groups," said the two-star general.

"There might be cooperation between some groups but not like as much as between the organized crime groups overseas," he said.

For instance, he said, gangs of vehicle thieves would never want to work alone due to the high risk. "Therefore, police always stumble upon a huge number of vehicles and suspects in a single raid," he said.

Even pickpockets today try to work in teams, he reminded.

Due to the small number of the police officers all over the country, he asked for the public's participation.

Today, he said, there are still great possibilities for organized crime groups to operate here although "they might only have small business profits here."

"If the organized crime groups can easily operate in advanced countries, such as the United States, Italy and Japan, they could easily operate in a country like Indonesia," he said.

Earlier in October, the Jakarta police declared war against the growing number of gangsters and racketeers whose methods of operation are already similar to those used by notorious organized crime groups in foreign countries.

"Real organized crime has yet to be found in the city, but we have uncovered a growing number of people and gangs who commit crimes using modus operandi similar to those adopted by foreign organized crime syndicates," Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto said.

These business, Hindarto said, are mostly run illegally can range from gambling, prostitution and extortion to drug dealing. They usually operated with the cover of legitimate businesses and use various types of scare tactics, including kidnapping.

"There's no place for them in the city and we have to take immediate action to stop these people before the problem grows uncontrollably."

In Naples, Italy, last month, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali branded organized crime as a threat to democracy and urged governments all over the world to join forces in the fight.

Opening a three-day ministerial conference on cross-border crime, he told delegates from 138 countries that the tentacles of "multinational crimes" had spread across the globe.

"(It) poisons the business climate, corrupts political leaders and undermines human rights," Boutros-Ghali said. (bsr)