Police zeroing in on BSD kidnappers

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Police have identified a man who abducted an eight-year boy from Tangerang after the boy's parents transferred part of the ransom to the kidnapper's own bank account.

However, police are yet to arrest the kidnapers, who are demanding Rp 4 billion (US$470,588), as they are still holding the boy.

"We should save the boy first, and then arrest them," Serpong Police chief Adj. Comr. Kostbar said on Saturday.

The police managed to trace the kidnappers' whereabouts after the parents transferred Rp 10 million to a bank account belonging to one of the kidnappers on Friday.

A police team then searched the address of the kidnapper in Cisarua, Bogor, West Java, but they could not find him.

A local resident said the suspect had moved to an area in North Jakarta.

The neighbor also had the kidnapper's mobile number, the same number given to the victim's parents.

The boy's father said the kidnappers had asked him to first transfer 5 percent of the ransom or Rp 200 million.

"They laughed when we transferred only Rp 10 million," the father told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He believed the kidnapping related to his gold trading business as his firm owed debts of Rp 4 billion to about 150 creditors.

He said he had often received threats relating to the debts.

The names of the boy and his parents were withheld in the interests of safety.

The boy was kidnapped from his elementary school on Wednesday.

Two unidentified men snatched the boy and drove off in a blue Kijang van, plate number B 7099 NN.

Police said the abduction had no relation to the recent kidnappings in Jakarta, Bogor and Cianjur.

At least six children have been abducted by sadistic kidnappers, known as the Saputra brothers gang. Two of the victims were raped and killed after their parents paid ransoms.

One of the kidnappers, Dani Saputra, 21, was arrested on Tuesday in Surabaya, East Java, while Jeffrey Saputra, 25, is still at large. Two children are still missing.