Sixteen migrant workers murdered
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Police are stepping up their hunt for the linchpin of a gang accused of the grisly murders of 16 female migrant workers in East Java, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
To capture the province's most-wanted man, known only as Yudi, Surabaya Police had alerted police forces throughout East Java and Bali, chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Arbaridi Jumhur said.
Other fugitives in the gang include Yika, Yudi's wife; Rouf and Mat, while two other suspects, Andik and Boy were arrested on Sunday. The two, who police say confessed to carrying out 16 murders with the gang during the past two years, are now in police custody pending prosecution.
The alleged murders came to light after a returned migrant worker who escaped from the gang was found in a sugar cane plantation in Prambon, Sidoarjo, early last month with bruises to her neck and face. After receiving hospital treatment, Ester Baniwine of West Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, talked to police investigators on Sept. 11.
Based on Ester's statement, police captured Andik and Boy at a housing estate in Sidoarjo but four other suspects escaped.
During questioning, Andik and Boy told police they had been operating for more than a year and had killed 16 migrant workers. Money was the main reason they killed the workers, who had returned to the country from the Middle East, Singapore or Malaysia, police said.
The confessions led police to recover and identify the bodies of two women -- Masri, 33, of Central Lombok regency and another person identified only as Sisilia. Their bodies were found in Waru district, Sidoarjo; and Bangil, Pasuruan, respectively.
Police believe that the gang picked up the women at Juanda Airport, Surabaya, offering them cheap transport and accommodation at Yudi's house in Griya Candra Mas for the night before they went back to their home towns.
Those women who accepted were taken to an abandoned area, killed and then stripped of their valuables.
Most of victims are believed to come outside Java, making it difficult for East Java police to determine their identity.