Two suspects nabbed over fatal robbery in Cimahi

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Two of at least seven suspects have been arrested for their role in killing two female students and injuring another during a recent robbery in Cimahi regency, West Java Police said on Sunday.

They said 25-year-old suspect Roji was captured on Sunday morning at the house of a relative in Palembang, South Sumatra, by a joint West Java-Cimahi police team.

The police had caught another suspect, Yus, alias Robert, 39, last Thursday in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, while he was trying to flee to Brebes, Central Java.

The police had earlier refused to make public the arrest of Yus until Saturday night, as they were on the trail of other suspects.

Cimahi Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Slamet Uliandi said 20 officers were involved in the arrests of Yus and Roji, who made no resistance.

He added that a preliminary interrogation of the two suspects showed that the Oct. 7 robbery, during which Desi Sri Mulyati, 19, and Ratih Rismayanti, 19, were killed and Indah Rahayu, 18, was wounded, was not politically motivated.

"It was purely a crime. It had nothing to do with the activities of Aa Gym who is campaigning for the eradication of gambling," Slamet told The Jakarta Post, referring to noted Muslim preacher Abdullah Gymnastyar.

The three women, all students at the Ahmad Yani Institute of Health Sciences in Cimahi, were robbed on their way back from a religious gathering at Daarut Tauhid Islamic boarding school in North Bandung, which is headed by Aa Gym.

The incident, which caused outrage in Cimahi, Bandung and neighboring areas, took place at about 11 p.m., when the three students boarded a public transportation vehicle plying the Cimahi-Leuwipanjang route, along with six other passengers.

Seven kilometers from the school, the car stopped and the other passengers plundered the three students' valuables, including two cellular phones and their wallets.

The robbers then bound and gagged the victims and threw them off the 20-meter Cisaat bridge into Citarum River in Leuwisapi village, Margaasih district, Bandung regency.

The bodies of Desi and Ratih were found later about three kilometers from the bridge. Indah survived, as she was able to free her hands and swim ashore.

Bandung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Irwanto said on Sunday the two detained suspects admitted that seven robbers were involved in the incident, not six as was reported by Indah.

The remaining five suspects were identified by their initials as BE, MK, RB, RJ, HE and RD.

Yus, who drove the vehicle with license plate number D1966CM, told investigators that he and his accomplices had no intention to throw the girls into the river.

Irwanto added they had done so because they panicked.

He said the seven robbers received Rp 125,000 (US$13) each from selling the stolen valuables before they fled to Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Lampung and Palembang.

Slamet said four of the five remaining fugitives were escaped convicts who had been in jail for similar robbery cases.

A Cimahi Police source said the five could be arrested soon, as their whereabouts were already known.

The seven suspects could face a maximum death penalty if found guilty under Article 365 of the Criminal Code on robbery and murder.