Fri, 16 Apr 2004

Tax officer nabbed for masterminding murder

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After hunting the murder suspects for months, the city police finally arrested on Wednesday all suspects in the murder of a lawyer in September last year, including its mastermind, Dwi Aryanto, 36, a tax officer from Surabaya.

Dwi was the last to be arrested on April 14 at his house in Taman Laguna Housing Complex, Cibubur, East Jakarta.

At his house police found four rifles, seven guns, and 2,061 bullets of various caliber.

Police charged Dwi under Article 340 of the Criminal Code on assassination and the 1951 Emergency Law for illegal arms possession.

The preliminary investigation revealed that Dwi gave the order to murder lawyer Imran Rosad because he felt he was cheated.

"Dwi wanted to be promoted to Jakarta. For this purpose, Dwi asked help from Imran, who claimed to know a high level official at the Jakarta tax office," Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said on Wednesday.

However, after paying Imran Rp 650 million (US$76,500), Dwi was disappointed because there was no sign that he would be moved to Jakarta.

Dwi later hired middleman Yusuf Buka, a member of Airborne division in the Army, to organize the killing. Yusuf contacted hit man Elya Jauhar and offered him Rp 300 million to kill Imran.

Elya asked an associate, Jonathan Wimsiwor, to find him a gun to execute the order. However, as Jonathan did not provide the gun, Elya killed Imran himself using a dagger.

Elya tricked Imran into meeting him, asking the latter to meet him at a karaoke bar in Ancol, North Jakarta, late on Sept. 2, 2003 for a legal consultation over a land title problem.

Early in the morning of Sept. 3, Elya stabbed Imran to death while the victim was driving.

"Elya told investigators that they were passing Jl. Lampiri, Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta on their way to Bekasi when the victim woke him up. He said the gesture made Elya remember that he had to kill Imran," Makbul revealed.

Police first apprehended Jonathan in September, who gave information that led to the arrest of Elya on April 12, Yusuf Buka on April 13, and the murder mastermind Dwi the following day.

"Because Yusuf Buka is a soldier, we forwarded the case to the military police," Makbul said.