West African visitors robbed by taxi driver

West African visitors robbed by taxi driver

JAKARTA (JP): Two visitors from West Africa were robbed by a
taxi driver and his accomplice on their way back to a hotel in
Central Jakarta on Friday night, police said Saturday.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said that his
office was finding it difficult to trace either the driver or his
friend but promised to do his best to catch the two.

"It's not easy for us to search for the suspects because the
victims could not give clear descriptions of the characteristics
of the crooks or the taxi," he said.

The victims, identified as Akang BT, 41, and Aminau AC, 44,
were robbed late on Friday night when they were heading to the
Alamanda hotel in Petamburan after visiting Plaza Indonesia.

Aritonang said the two suspects had allegedly used the same
trick in previous robberies.

"Under the scheme the taxi driver targets women or foreigners
as his customers before later picking up his accomplice somewhere
else," he said.

The suspects prefer to take foreigners because they presume
the latter are not familiar with the capital's roads, he said.

According to the victims, soon after they got into the taxi at
Plaza Indonesia the driver picked up a man and then seemed to
drive the taxi around aimlessly, said Aritonang.

He said the driver stopped somewhere in North Jakarta. "The
suspects pointed a knife at the victims, asking for money and
jewelry. They later sealed the victims' mouths with wide
cellophane tape."

Aminau told the police that one of the suspects bit his little
finger when he tried to stop the man from taking his ring off his
finger, Aritonang said.

Aminau and Akang were abandoned in front of the Mitrapraja
building in North Jakarta and were taken by local people to the
nearby Medika Griya hospital for medical treatment, said the
spokesman.

He said that the two had been in the city for some time on a
cultural visit. (cst)