Student gang leader nabbed

TANGERANG: Batu Ceper police has arrested a student who led a gang that committed a series of robberies on bus passengers to fund drug, liquor and prostitute appetites.

Batu Ceper subprecinct police chief Insp. Endro Subagio identified the suspect as Djoko Haryanto, 19, who is in the third year of Cengkareng Griya Putra senior technical high school.

Earlier, police arrested three students from the same school: Bambang, 16, Irwansyah, 17, and Andika, 18, several hours after they robbed and injured three passengers on a minibus traveling along Jl. Daan Mogot. Djoko managed to escape.

Endro said Djoko was found with a replica caliber 38 colt gun and two live bullets when Kalideres police raided buses on Monday evening.

The Kalideres police later transferred the suspects to Batu Ceper police.

Djoko, who always appeared with a single dark glass covering his right eye, like a sea pirate, admitted that they established the gang to rob passengers on buses.

"Over the past two months, we had six times robbed passengers on buses, twice in Kebon Melati area, Batu Ceper and four times in Kalideres," he told The Jakarta Post, adding that he got the gun from another student at his school called Iwan.

"It was only a game gun but the bullets were original and I used the gun to scare passengers so that my friends could easily take their belongings," he said.

According to Djoko, the students spent the money on drugs liquor and prostitutes.

Police said they would treat the students equal to other criminals and would be processed according to legal procedures. --JP