Reporter stabbed, robbed in car

JAKARTA (JP): A reporter from the Suara Pembaruan evening daily was robbed and assaulted in his car on Thursday morning after stopping to receive a call on his cell phone.

Upa Labuhari had pulled over to the side of the street at about 9 a.m. near the Jl. Pemuda and Jl. Pramuka junction in East Jakarta.

"When I stopped my car not far from the traffic light of the junction, one of the two culprits, who pretended to cross the street, suddenly approached me and forcibly opened the car door while I spoke on the phone," he said.

As soon as the door was open, the young man pulled a sickle out of his backpack and aimed it at Upa, demanding his wallet.

He handed it over, but the other man rushed at him and grabbed his cell phone.

"The man who took away my phone slashed my arm with the sickle, maybe because he felt offended because I stared at him." He sustained a gash to his right arm.

There has been a recent spate of reports of robberies at city junctions in which young men, most with backpacks, robbed motorists whose car doors were unlocked. (emf)