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Arrested regent accused of caging teens, drug addicts in his home
The Langkat regent was apprehended last week on separate charges of graft in a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) sting operation.
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A police officer inspects an iron-barred cell located in the residential compound of apprehended Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin Angin in Raja Tengah village, North Sumatra, on Wednesday. (Antara/Oman)
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nactive regent of Langkat, North Sumatra, and recently named graft suspect, Terbit Rencana Peranginangin, has been accused of caging dozens of people at his home in North Sumatra and compelling them to work on his oil palm plantation.
Authorities discovered an iron-barred cell as they searched Terbit’s residential compound during his arrest in a Jan. 18 sting operation led by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Terbit allegedly evaded arrest at his home but turned himself in to the Binjai Police later in the day.
The KPK named Terbit and five other people graft suspects last week for allegedly demanding kickbacks from private contractors in exchange for regental infrastructure construction projects.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan said the cell, which was located in a 36 square meter outbuilding, was divided into two smaller chambers by iron bars.
“Based on the [witness] information, the rooms were used to temporarily hold drug addicts and teenage delinquents, the latter of whom were willingly turned in by their families to be disciplined,” said Ahmad on Tuesday.
Ahmad said some of the “inmates” were employed on Terbit’s oil palm plantation, with the purported aim of equipping them with useful skills. He said they were reportedly not given wages but noted that they were properly fed.
Some 48 people had been held in the cell, Ahmad said, although some of them had been returned to their families.
