Robbers snatch meal allowance cash

BOGOR (JP): Armed with a pistol, two men robbed Rp 48 million (US$4,900) in cash from employees of Palang Merah Indonesia Hospital on Thursday, just as they arrived from the bank where they had withdrawn the money.

The two suspects, who arrived on a Yamaha RX King motorcycle bearing registration plate number B 6306 PO, snatched the money from one of the hospital's security guards, Mad Rais, 48, after opening fire on him. The shot, although it missed the target, was enough to stop Rais' challenge.

The money would have been used to pay the monthly meal allowance of some 400 employees of the city's largest hospital. The allowance ranges from Rp 20,000 to Rp 75,000.

It was around 11 a.m., the start of patient visiting hours, when Rais, a personnel staff member, M. Yusuf and a nurse, Ida Ayu, got out of their car and were entering the hospital's left- hand entrance when the robbery took place.

"We directly returned to the hospital after withdrawing the money. We had never expected the robbery to happen because we do this job every month," Rais said.

He speculated the robbers had trailed him since he left the Bank BNI on Jl. Juanda.

Rais said he normally took the left-hand entrance, which is actually the access to the Mawar patient room. The Mawar room is located next to the hospital's management office.

The Mawar room was locked when Rais and company arrived because one of the on-duty guards was having lunch and the other was receiving a call.

Two police, also on a motorcycle, chased the suspects upon hearing the robbery report from Rais. The police found the suspects' motorbike lying on Jl. Arjimar in North Bogor, some two kilometers away from the hospital. The suspect robbers are believed to have escaped using public transportation. (21)