Taxi victim helps police halt highway robbery

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.