Six nabbed over extortion

JAKARTA: Jakarta Police arrested six people claiming to be Mobile Brigade officers late on Wednesday for allegedly extorting money from people.

"We're still verifying whether they are policemen or not," city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said on Thursday.

Prasetyo said the suspects always claimed they were in a police raid when extorting money from people.

The six were arrested in Cakung, East Jakarta, when they were supposedly on a drug raid but attempting to extort money from people.

They told investigators they had operated in at least eight different locations in the city and had reaped a total of Rp 4.75 million (US$527). The usual target was groups of gamblers.--JP