Police set up special team to hunt down armed robbers

Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post , Semarang | Mon, 06/09/2008 10:29 AM | The Archipelago

The police have established a special team to hunt down the perpetrators of an armed robbery at a Kranggan gold shop in Semarang on Wednesday in which three were killed and another injured.

The team consists of several units, including the criminal investigation units of the Semarang and Central Java police, Semarang Police chief Sr. Comr. Mashjudi said over the weekend.

The police had questioned 10 witnesses as of Friday, Mashjudi said.

"We are tracking down the vehicles and analyzing the robbers' modus operandi," he said.

Welly Chandra, his wife Anik Wijaya and their maid Wulansari were killed when a group of gunmen robbed their shop Wednesday evening.

Welly was tied up and suffocated to death moments after the robbery, while Anik and Wulan were shot dead early Thursday morning.

Their bodies were found in Sekaran near Semarang State University in Welly's Kijang Innova car, which was believed to have been used by the robbers to transport the gold.

Welly and Anik were buried in Ambarawa on Sunday. Wulan was buried Friday in her home village Kalisari, Grobogan.

Welly's 76-year-old aunt Soey Eng Ing, also known as Iing, was also shot during the robbery, but survived and is currently in intensive care at Semarang Kariadi Hospital.

Her psychological condition remains unstable as she is in shock due to the brutal assaults, Mashjudi said.

Iing is a key witness, according to Mashjudi, and "is expected to recognize the faces of the perpetrators".

Wednesday's robbery took the number of armed robberies in Central Java since 2004 to at least 10.

The police are investigating whether the robberies were carried out by the same network and whether their motives were for financing activities such as terrorism.

Muslim cleric Nuril Arifin Husein, of Soko Tunggal Islamic boarding school in Semarang, said if terrorism was found to be behind such robberies, the police were obliged to stamp out radical movements.

"The government has to be strict in washing them out completely," Nuril said.

No matter the motive, he said, robberies were sinful according to the teachings of all religions.

Economic hardship and nontransparent law enforcement could be behind such sadistic robberies, criminologist Paulus Hadi Suprapto of Diponegoro University in Semarang said.

Paulus suggested the community build a sense of caring about each other and report any suspicious activities or people to prevent crimes from being committed in their neighborhoods.

"If not, they can hire security guards for their residences," Paulus added.

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