Robbery foiled in Plaza Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): A foreigner who allegedly attempted to rob a bank at the Plaza Indonesia shopping center in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon was arrested after causing panic among employees, shoppers and security guards.

Police later identified the suspect of the attempted midday robbery of the branch office of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) as Tony Bradley.

"We so far have not been able to find any documents from the suspect which would reveal his nationality," the chief of the city police detectives, Col. Alex Bambang Riatmojo, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday night.

The suspect -- about 190 centimeters tall, in his 30's, slim and dark-skinned -- failed to steal any money from the bank, but was able to grab a gun from one of the bank's security guards and fire five bullets into the windows of the bank.

In the process of being disarmed, Bradley was badly beaten by the security guards and a number of soldiers who were assigned to safeguard the shopping center.

The suspect was also wounded in the neck by a rubber bullet.

With injuries to his neck, head and left eye, the suspect was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for treatment before being interrogated at the nearby Menteng police station.

The suspect's actions, however, raised a number of questions about his intentions and even his condition. The timing of the robbery, in the middle of the day, and the suspect's apparent lack of any sort of plan have left many people puzzled .

Also, Plaza Indonesia, in the heart of the city, has been heavily guarded by soldiers from the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) since the May 1998 riots.

"We have not yet checked to see whether or not the suspect was drunk," the head of the Central Jakarta Police detectives, Maj. Budiono Sandi, said.

"We have not had the opportunity to smell the odor of the suspects mouth to determine if he had been drinking," Budiono told the Post.

Police believe that they will face difficulties collecting information from the suspect, who has responded hostilely to the police's questions.

"He still refuses to talk to us and seems not to want to cooperate with us," Alex said.

The general manager of Plaza Indonesia, M. Sohirin, speculated that the suspect "must have found himself in financial straits".

According to witnesses and police, Bradley entered the BII branch office at around 1:30 p.m., immediately approached a security guard, Muhtasor, grabbed the guard's gun and pointed it at the 10 people inside the bank.

"He (Bradley) threatened -- in fluent English -- all the people in the bank, saying 'Don't move or I'll shoot,'" Sohirin quoted witnesses as saying.

Another security guard, Donny Sandiyo Yudho, said that after firing one warning shot, Bradley approached a female teller, aiming the gun at her, and demanded money.

Donny also said that Bradley shouted demands in unknown languages and acted like he was drunk, waving his gun around and ordering people to obey his commands.

The suspect then fired two shots into the windows of the bank in order to frighten the employees.

Apparently alerted by the shots, Kostrad personnel rushed to the scene.

"I told the soldiers not to come any closer because there were still three bullets left in the gun," Donny said.

However, one of the soldiers, Rangi Nusantara, took the initiative by firing shots into the front window of the bank to elicit a response from Bradley.

"Then there was a series of shots heard, including those fired by the suspect," Donny said.

After Bradley fired the last bullet from his gun, the soldiers and security guards overwhelmed him.

Police said that Bradley had been staying at Laotze Hotel in the Karang Anyar area of Central Jakarta.

However, a staff member at the hotel, Cipto, stated that Bradley was not a guest in the hotel. (emf/jun)