John Kei: (Antara)

The 16 men recently arrested by the Jakarta Police for allegedly shaking down a businessman may be connected to a gang leader facing murder charges in a similar case.

The men were debt collectors who allegedly threatened and extorted a steel executive in Kapuk, West Jakarta, Mobile Detective Unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Heryawan said on Tuesday.

Herry, calling the men the “Kei Gang”, said that the suspects were from the Kei Islands in southeastern Maluku.

It was unclear if “Kei” was a reference to John Renfra, known on the street as John Kei, after the islands where he was born. John Kei was previously named a suspect in the Jan. 26 murder of another steel businessman, Tan Harry Tantono (Ayung).

“All 16 received orders from Malaysian Ker Min Teng to extort money from businessman Law Chandra Gunawan. The group extorted Law several times at his Kapuk office,” Herry told reporters at Jakarta
Police headquarters.

Herry said that Ker’s order to shakedown Law was received by an underboss identified as Konan Koedoeboen, who forwarded the order to the men.

Ker, Konan, and three other men identified as Ahmad Amin, Ali Zeein, and Ali Watyanan, have been named as suspects in the case and charged with criminal misconduct, which carries a sentence of a year’s imprisonment, Herry said.

“As for the 16 debt collectors, we will wait until after questioning before filing any charges against them,” Herry said.

Law, who was on hand at police headquarters when detectives brought in the 16 men in handcuffs, said that his feud with Ker began in August 2008, when Ker gave him a Rp 1.5 billion (US$159,000) down payment for a Rp 13 billion order of iron ore.

“However, when the price of iron ore went down in 2009, Ker reneged on the deal without consulting with me first. Then he asked me to return his Rp 1.5 billion. When I offered to repay the sum in iron ore equal to 3,000 tons, he refused.”

Law said that after several attempts to resolve the dispute, he went to Ker’s office in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, on July 24, where Law alleged he was threatened.

The police said that the debt collectors were arrested after they went to Law’s office on Tuesday to ask that he drop the matter.

“I’m a little confused as to why he [Ker] is the one threatening me, when I was the one who suffered huge losses after he backed out of the deal,” Law said.

John Kei’s group is regarded as the most efficient debt collection outfits in the city, reportedly employed by banks, financing companies and individuals.

The group may be too enthusiastic: Police have said that Ayung was killed because he refused to pay a debt that John and his men went to collect.

Detectives have also said that John’s ambition to take control of a part of Ayung’s company may have factored in his murder.

Debt collectors typically work on commission, Herry said. “In the case between Ker and Law, the men were promised 50 percent of the collected debt.”

Separately, the police reported that a member of another gang from the Key Islands, Ladau Telagani, also known as Daud Kei, was shot by assailants on motorbikes while on the way to the South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office to ask for a heavy sentence for John.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto declined to connect Daud Kei’s assault to John Kei. “It’s too soon [...] Let the detectives do their work in investigating the case.”

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