Singaporean gives cops the slip

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.