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The incident started when victims Doni Sukamto, 37, and Yanto, 27, arrived at the bank to deposit money that they had withdrawn from the nearby Senen branch of Lippo bank.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