Police arrest 78, seize 178 guns over two weeks

Jakarta Police said on Friday that they had arrested 78 suspects in various crimes across the city in the first half of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.

Included in the list of detainees were the suspects in the recent café raid in Pesanggrahan and those of the violent bullying at Don Bosco High School in Pondok Indah, both in South Jakarta.

“Of the 78 detainees, 36 were arrested for conducting raids, 26 for street crimes, seven for the Don Bosco bullying, three for robbing minimarkets, and six for armed robbery of bank customers,” police’s chief of operations Sr. Comr. Agung Budi Maryoto said.

Of the 36 arrested for conducting raids, 23 were perpetrators of the raid on De Most café in Pesanggrahan on July 28 -— two of whom are underage boys. The remaining 13 were arrested by the West Jakarta Police for a separate raid in the municipality, Agung said. “All 36 were arrested for criminal damage and publicly brandishing bladed weapons,” he continued.

As for the 26 arrested for street crimes, 16 were detained at the city police’s general crimes directorate and the remaining 10 at the East Jakarta Police office. The police did not disclose any details regarding their crimes other than saying that they involved “assault and breaking and entering”.

During the same period, the police also confiscated 178 guns, comprising 61 firearms and 117 airsoft guns. Fifty-two of the 61 firearms were handguns and the remaining nine were rifles.

Of the 117 airsoft guns, 40 were airsoft handguns and 77 were airsoft rifles. “We have also seized 2,030 live rounds and 67,506 airsoft gun BB pellets,” Agung said, adding that 17 suspects had been arrested by various police offices across Jakarta for crimes related to the confiscated guns.

Separately, police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that the police could provide escorts for people transporting large sums of money in the days before the holidays, including for bank customers withdrawing large amounts from their accounts.

“The service is free of charge and is accessible by all,” he said, adding that the service was offered to prevent instances of robbery.

Reports say that an AK-47 police service rifle went off accidentally duringsuch an escort service at the Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta. Rikwanto confirmed the incident took place when First Brig. RG was escorting money being transferred by PT Securicor from a retail clothing outlet at the mall.

The bullet struck the floor, causing shards of floor tiles to ricochet into the legs of Aditya Pradana, 31, and Ahmad Syakiri, 26, both of whom were transferred immediately to a nearby hospital.

First Brig. RG is currently being questioned at the city police’s internalaffairs division. The rifle and bullet casing have been confiscated.

— JP/Iman Mahditama