Two killed in robbery attempt

Two killed in robbery attempt

Emmy Fitri and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A police officer and an alleged robber were killed in a
shootout between law enforcers and criminals during an attempted
robbery in broad daylight in front of a branch office of Bank
Central Asia (BCA) in Bungur, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta on
Thursday.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam
identified the dead officer as Chief Brig. Slamet Rianto, 32, who
was a member of Central Jakarta police detectives unit, and named
the other fatality as Ari Wibowo, 32, believed to be one of the
four robbers.

The incident started when victims Doni Sukamto, 37, and Yanto,
27, arrived at the bank to deposit money that they had withdrawn
from the nearby Senen branch of Lippo bank.

"Doni and Yanto carried Rp 100 million and Rp 60 million
respectively . They are private employees from the same company,"
Anton said, adding that police had speculated they had been
followed by the robbers before arriving at the bank.

The incident took place at around 12:45 p.m.

According to Anton, four people riding two motorcycles
approached Doni, who was standing outside the bank and demanded
the cash from him. One of the unidentified men suddenly pulled
out an FN pistol and took a shot at Doni's right thigh.

Upon seeing his friend shot, Hari, who was parking their
motorcycle not far from the scene, then turned on the
motorcycle's engine and ran into one of the robbers' motorcycles.

The two robbers fell but managed to get up.

Officer Slamet and his associate Purba who were posted at the
bank arrived from inside the bank and fired warning shots, which
were ignored by the robbers. One of the robbers even opened fire
and was soon involved in a shootout with officer Slamet.

Slamet was shot in the head and died instantly at the scene,
while Ari Wibowo was found dead by a taxi driver on Jl. Angkasa,
not from the crime scene. Ari's body was recovered by a
Cendrawasih taxi driver, Yadi Rosidi, who took it to the nearby
Mitra Kemayoran Hospital.

Earlier in the morning, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan
Jacoeb had told reporters at police headquarters that police had
prepared special units to support bank security officers in
safeguarding their customers.

Referring to the increase in armed robberies on bank customers
this month, Sofyan said the police might restart the Sapu Jagat
operation.

He added that during the one-month operation in September, the
number of robberies of bank customers carrying cash had dropped
sharply.