Suspected killer gunned down, five others held

Suspected killer gunned down, five others held

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives fatally shot a man, suspected of being a hired murderer, on Tuesday and have arrested five others suspected of involvement in the murder last year of a debt collector in Depok, 30 kilometers south of here.

The City Police Public Relations Department said yesterday that the murder of Rachmat Martha, a debt collector, took place in front of a small mosque at the Kemirimuka traditional market in Beji, Depok, at around 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 12, last year.

Maj. Endang Sunjaya, who led the investigation, said that the killing was masterminded by two butchers at the market who hired two other people to find two killers to carry out their plan. Under the deal, the killers were to receive Rp 5 million (US$2,262), Endang said.

The butchers, identified as Harjadi, 47, and Suyatna, 27, felt unhappy about Rachmat's pressuring them to repay money which they owed to a third party, Maj. Endang said.

Rachmat was brutally stabbed by Budi Mulyono, 30, and Irfan, 24, in front of the mosque, according to Endang, who is head of the theft division of the city crime investigation directorate.

Rachmat fought back against his attackers but was eventually knocked down by Irfan, who then smashed his head with a large stone while Budi Mulyono continued stabbing Rachmat's body.

The two hired killers have claimed that they only received Rp 150,000 from Hamdani, alias Robert, 30, and Endang, 33, who were the go-betweens for the two butchers, Endang said.

Police said that Robert and Endang are notorious hoodlums in Depok.

Maj. Endang said that all of the suspects, including the dead one, were apprehended at different places in South Jakarta and Depok on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The police officer said that the first suspects to be captured were Irfan and Budi Mulyono, whom police found playing billiards at a billiards center in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta, at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

During the raid Budi refused to surrender and attacked the officers using a billiards cue and a knife, Maj. Endang said, adding that Budi ignored warning shots fired by other officers.

"This prompted one of the officers to shoot him in the chest and head, making him fall down," the police officer said.

The suspect died on the way to the hospital, the police said.

Based on information provided by Irfan, four other suspects were then arrested at their respective homes, all in the Pancoran Mas sub-district of Depok.

According to him, another suspect in the killing, identified as Budi Waluyo, is still at large.(bsr)