Singaporean gives cops the slip

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A Singaporean national detained for alleged theft in a number of five-star hotels in Jakarta managed to fool police guards and escape from city police detention early on Friday morning.

Following the escape of Tang Kheng Seng, 32, alias Jeremy, five police officers, including Adj. First Insp. Manalu, were questioned for negligence on Friday.

"All of them have been detained by the internal affairs division. During questioning, we discovered that they had been negligent," said Sr. Comr. Irawan Dahlan.

Tang managed to persuade the five guards on duty to let him use the visitor's toilet instead of the prisoner's toilet at around 4 a.m. on Friday.

After waiting for almost an hour, one of the five guards went to the toilet and ordered Tang to come out. Upon receiving no answer, the guard forced open the door and found the toilet was empty.

When he saw that the window had been broken, he realized that Tang had escaped. He immediately informed his fellow guards, who then reported the incident to their superior officer.

"The guards need to explain why they let Tang use the visitor's toilet instead of the prisoner's toilet as required by the rules. Also, they will have to explain why they didn't hear anything when Tang broke the window," said Irawan.

He added that the guards would also need to explain where Tang got the tool he used to break the window in the first place.

Tang was arrested on Dec. 7 last year following a police investigation into allegations that he was involved in the theft of gymnasium equipment from a number of five-star hotels and spas in Jakarta.

He was charged under Article 363 of the Criminal Code on theft, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

According to the Criminal Law Procedures Code, the police can detain suspects charged with offenses carrying jail terms of five years or longer.

Asked whether the five guards had colluded with the suspect to let him escape, Irawan said he was unable to say yet whether this was the case as his officers were still interrogating them.

It is commonplace for suspects to bribe police guards and prison officers to allow them to escape detention or prison. Among the famous suspects who resorted to bribery were suspected corruptor Edi Tansil, former President Soeharto's son, Tommy, and Zarimah, an actress involved in drugs.