Three suspects in gambling raid hospitalized
Three suspects in gambling raid hospitalized
JAKARTA (JP): Police confirmed yesterday that three of the 238 suspected gamblers rounded up during a recent raid are in hospitals.
"The three include a pregnant woman and two sick men, one of whom is suffering serious rheumatic pain in his back," City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told reporters.
The raid carried out early Saturday morning by a 40-member Operation Cleansing team from the Jakarta Chapter for the Agency of the Support for National Stability (Bakorstanasda Jaya) nabbed a total of 238 people at the aptly-named Lucky Plaza building on Jl. Pluit Indah Jaya. The team also seized Rp 44.9 million (US$20,880) in cash and gambling game sets.
Of the suspects, five are Malaysians, and one each from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The remaining 231 suspects are all Indonesians, mostly of Chinese descent, including two newspaper reporters and two lawyers.
Following non-stop questioning, the team, led by Lt. Col. RR Simbolon from Jakarta Military Headquarters, handed over the suspects to the City Police Headquarters for further investigation.
The police, however, claimed that the number of suspects brought to the headquarters was 235 people, and not 238.
Earlier, many had believed that the other three suspects were "the lords" of the gambling dens, and, therefore, had been released by certain parties involved in this case after bribing crooked officers.
With the exception of the three currently hospitalized with the approval of the police, the other suspects, including the seven foreigners, remain in police custody at City Police Headquarters, Hindarto said.
He, however, refused to identify the three who have taken ill.
Hindarto only said that the pregnant woman is being treated at the police Kramat Jati hospital in East Jakarta.
The two-star general said all of the suspects would have to be tried based on their respective roles discovered by the team members during the raid.
In a related development, chief of the Bakorstanasda Jaya, Maj. Gen. AM Hendropriyono, has once again instructed his subordinates to step up efforts to eliminate all forms of gambling throughout the city.
"We will continue to get tough with all kinds of gambling activities. The operators are urged to stop their operations soon. Otherwise they will be dealt with severely," said Hendropriyono, who is also chief of the City Military Command.
He further warned that he will not hesitate to punish any members of the Armed Forces (ABRI) found backing gambling activities. (bsr)