Taxi victim helps police halt highway robbery
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
North Jakarta Police thanked robbery victim Halimah, 30, on Tuesday for providing information that could lead to some reduction in the number of taxi robberies, which have become commonplace in the past few months.
Halimah, a vegetable retailer living in a rented house in Kalibaru, Cilincing, North Jakarta, was robbed inside a Kosti Jaya taxi at around 1 a.m. on Monday.
North Jakarta Police managed to arrest the suspect some 16 hours after the incident, thanks to Halima's courage in snatching the driver's identification card from the dashboard.
"Thanks to this brave woman, we have arrested the suspect in the robbery. We are now questioning him at the North Jakarta Police Station," North Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Dede Suryana said on Tuesday.
Halimah was robbed on her way to the Warakas market, also in North Jakarta, on Monday morning.
Instead of taking Halimah to the Warakas market, the driver headed toward Jl. Danau Sunter Utara, also in North Jakarta.
By the time Halimah realized that they were going the wrong way, the taxi driver had already stopped the cab in a quiet street.
The driver attempted to grab Halimah's wallet, which contained Rp 600,000 (US$56). Halimah, who was sitting in the front seat, did not surrender the wallet easily, and a fierce tussle between Halimah and Rusli ensued.
After some time, Rusli managed to overpower Halimah and kicked her out of the taxi. However, before falling out, Halimah grabbed the driver's identification card from the dashboard.
Bruised and shocked, Halimah reported the case to the North Jakarta station right after the incident. She also handed over the driver's identification card to the police.
Equipped with the card, the police identified the taxi as a Kosti Jaya cab and tracked down the driver, who was identified as Parno.
However, when Parno was paraded before Halimah, she did not recognize him, which made police believe that Parno's replacement driver may have committed the crime.
Parno later confessed to police that freelance driver Rusli, alias Rudi, had been using the taxi at the time when the robbery took place. Police later arrested Rusli at his home in Kampung Sawah, Cilincing, North Jakarta.
North Jakarta Police officers said on Tuesday that the incident suggested that previous taxi robberies may have also been perpetuated by freelance drivers in connivance with the legitimate drivers of certain taxi companies.
Monday's robbery was the 13th since the start of 2005, with city police failing to solve any of them, up to now.
Last Saturday, several men worked together with a taxi driver to rob Reysah, 20, in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, while Susan Bayu Aji, 32, was robbed by a taxi driver and his two accomplices inside a Manuk Mira taxi on her way home after a birthday party in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
Police said earlier that they could not solve the robberies as the victims had been unable to give them enough information.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said that all taxi robberies were similar in that gangs decked out cars to look like taxis operated by popular companies, including Blue Bird and Manuk Mira, and operated them just like ordinary taxis.
The taxi driver would look for a woman fare, then stop the cab in a quiet area where one or more accomplices would get into the taxi and rob the passenger, Ketut said.
"This modus operandi makes it difficult for us to find the robbers as the victim will state a certain taxi operator. But when we arrange a meeting between the taxi operator and the victim, the victim does not recognize the driver," he said.