The Jakarta Police have arrested five people who allegedly stole from Armedya Dewangga, an expert staff member of the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. One of the suspects was shot dead after allegedly resisting arrest.

Jakarta Police general crimes director Sr. Comr. Nico Afinta said that the five suspects were identified as Ramalia aka Ramli, Suhemi aka Toing, Komar aka Abdul, Dany and Ahmad Mahmudi.

“Ramalia was the leader of the robbery group. We took a tough and measured action [shot him dead] because he resisted arrest,” Nico said on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com.

The police also arrested another man allegedly involved with the group, Ade Junaidi, and shot an alleged accomplice, Heru Astanto. The two were said to be fences. Heru, who according to the police resisted arrest, died on the way to hospital after he was shot.

Read also: Commentary: Do Asian Games give police license to kill?

Nico said that the police were on the hunt for another alleged perpetrator linked to the group, Buyung, who remained at large. 

Armedya lost some cash and important documents in his computer when he was driving in Tamansari, West Jakarta, on June 8. Armedya said the incident began when four perpetrators riding three motorcycles informed him that his car's tires were flat.

As Armedya exited the car to check the tires, the four men allegedly entered his car and stole his belongings.

The deaths of Ramalia and Heru add to the three that were shot dead by the police since they began cracking down on street crime in Jakarta ahead of the 2018 Asian Games. 

The West Jakarta Police released on July 4 a statement saying that they had shot dead three robbery suspects, tempo.co reported. On June 29, the police shot one person to death for allegedly mugging a top ministry official. Two others were shot dead by the police in separate incidents on July 2 and July 3. (fac)