Three questioned about gang rape and robberies
JAKARTA (JP): Three men are undergoing intensive police interrogation for their possible roles recently in a number of robberies and a gang rape in Bekasi, West Java.
The three were taken yesterday to the National Police headquarters to have their fingerprints and blood test taken again.
The re-examination of fingerprints and blood tests of the three men is needed for ascertainment, Jakarta Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
"None of them have been named as suspects in the robberies and gang rape. The investigation is still going on," he said, refusing to identify them. A source at the Bekasi police precinct identified them as Nanang, Hamid and Alex.
They were questioned by the local police a few hours after a series of robberies, one of which involved rape, in two neighboring villages last Friday.
Police assume that the crimes were committed by at least seven people.
A group of robbers started their operation in two districts of Cibarusah and Serang, at about 2 a.m. last Friday. They made off with a total of Rp 1.4 million cash and 70 grams of gold.
Armed with sharp weapons, the group moved from one target to another by foot, witnesses said. At each house, half of them were assigned as lookouts outside.
The robbers' first victim was Asep, worker of a soybean-cake factory in Kampung Cironjong of Sindangmulya village in Cibarusah.
Asep, 35, his 27-year-old wife and their 4-year-old daughter live on the premises of the small factory, which is owned by a Jakarta businessman.
Before stealing Rp 1.2 million in cash and 35 grams of jewelry, five of the seven men allegedly raped Asep's wife. Asep and his daughter were tied up and could only look on helplessly.
The housewife told police after the incident that the first four men raped her in the bathroom and the other one raped her in the living room.
From Asep's house, the group then allegedly broke into Suryono's house located about 200 meters away and reportedly stole 14 grams of gold.
They then walked to another house owned by Tatang where they allegedly stole Rp 70,000 and 2.5 grams of gold jewelry, police said.
Before leaving the area, the group reportedly broke into Madin's house and left the place with Rp 15,000 and 10 grams of gold jewelry.
The robbers then walked to the nearby village of Desa Sukaragam in Serang where they allegedly broke into three houses where they stole Rp 120,000.
No fatalities were reported in the robberies, but the robbers wounded one man who attacked them.
Bekasi, which is becoming notorious for robbery and rape, has many remote villages with houses located quite a distance from one another. Therefore victims screams go unheard. Street lights and telephones are a luxury the villagers cannot afford and because of this robbers target the villages.
The police find it difficult to carry out patrols as there are only narrow pathways leading into most of the villages.
Deputy Bekasi Police Chief Maj. Yohannes Soewono pledged that his detectives will arrest the suspected criminals soon because all of the suspects are repeat offenders in the area. (bsr)