Robbery foiled in Plaza Indonesia
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)