Two men arrested over killing of schoolboy
JAKARTA (JP): Two men suspected of killing and dumping the dead body of a junior high school student before stealing the victim's new motorcycle were arrested yesterday.
The incident allegedly took place two weeks ago near the Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta.
The suspects, Rohidin, 19, and Aris Nugroho, 16, were arrested at their respective houses around 11 a.m. yesterday by the Pasar Minggu police detectives following a report from the Bogor police, who seized the stolen vehicle by chance in a routine operation on Sunday.
On being questioned, the two admitted to having attacked and strangled Abdul Gafur, 16, and throwing his body in mud near a garbage site on Jl. Saco, near the zoo.
A number of detectives and police forensic experts rushed to the scene and removed the decomposed body of Abdul Gafur, who apparently was a close friend of the two suspects. The victim lived with his parents in Bogor, West Java.
Gafur's father, Tian, confirmed that the remains were of his son, whom he had reported missing since Aug. 22 to the Bogor police.
At the scene, the police also found school uniforms, shoes and a T-shirt strongly believed to be Gafur's, and bricks allegedly used by the unemployed suspects to beat the victim with.
Citing preliminary police investigation, City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna told reporters yesterday that the killing and robbery was plotted by Rohidin, who planned to sell the Rp 4 million Yamaha Force 1 motorcycle for his wedding.
According to Iman, Rohidin and Aris met Gafur, who was heading home from school, around 2 p.m. on Aug. 22.
Gafur was a third year student of the SMP Borobudur, which is located close to the zoo.
"As they had known each other well, the two suspects asked Gafur to take them on his new bike," Iman said.
A few minutes later, one of the suspects asked Gafur to stop at a lonely spot near the zoo, where they allegedly killed the school boy, said Iman.
"I strangled him with his school tie," suspect Aris was quoted as saying by a detective. Rohidin is believed to have fatally beaten the victim with the bricks.
Knowing that Gafur was dead, the two then threw the victim in the mud nearby, said officer Iman.
Another version
Yesterday's arrest of the homicide suspects has another version.
Spokesman Iman quoted the head of the Pasar Minggu police sub- precinct as saying that it was his detectives who seized the motorcycle from Rohidin's house at Kampung Utan in Ragunan.
"Gafur's father came to the Pasar Minggu police at around 10 a.m. this morning to report, on reliable information from someone, that his son's motorcycle was seen at Rohidin's house," Iman said.
"Based on this tip, the Pasar Minggu detectives rushed to the suspect's house and arrested him and seized the bike," he said.
However, a reliable source said that Gafur's father, Tian, came to the sub-precinct yesterday morning along with a Bogor police officer and the victim's motorcycle.
"The motorcycle was detained last weekend in Bogor for not having proper documents," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Based on the documents available, a Bogor police officer came to Tian's house for further investigation about the ownership of the motorcycle.
"The real story starts here," said the source. (bsr)