Jakarta. Two Indonesian Military, or TNI, soldiers and an ex-police officer were allegedly involved in the abduction of a Malaysian businessman in Jakarta which reportedly stemmed from a failed business venture.
The three are among seven people arrested over the kidnapping of Malaysian national Sahlan bin Bandan earlier this month.
Sahlan was abducted after agreeing to meet the assailants at a McDonald's outlet in Cibubur, East Jakarta on July 15.
He met the group after they had abducted his five younger siblings from the family's residence in Bogor, West Java, and threatened to kill them. The five others were released after Sahlan was attacked.
“They asked the victim to come to McDonald's [outlet] in Cibubur. After that he was taken to a house in Cijantung [East Jakarta],” Sr. Comr. Khrisna Murti, the director for general crime investigations at the Jakarta Police, told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday.
He added Sahlan was released eight days later, on July 23, after his family sent Rp 100 million ($7,400) to the kidnappers — after which he immediately reported the incident to police.
Khrisna said the abduction was allegedly masterminded by two business partners of Sahlan, identified only as R. F. and D. S.
They allegedly hired the other suspects to kidnap and threaten the Malaysian national because they had lost Rp 100 billion in a failed business venture initiated by Sahlan.
“The victim [Sahlan] asked his two business partners to open a salted fish business and a money changer business in Malaysia and Batam. But the businesses failed; [they suffered] from losses,” Khrisna explained, as quoted by Indonesian news portal liputan6.com.
“Suspects D. S. and R. F. couldn't accept this and demanded that their money was returned. But the victim could not return the money because he also suffered losses.”
Khrisna added that the victim was assaulted and was threatened with murder during the kidnapping.
Jakarta Military Command spokesman Col. Heri Prakosa confirmed that two of the alleged kidnappers were members of the Indonesian Army.
One has been identified as a first sergeant with the Army Special Force, or Kopassus, and the other is a head sergeant with the Army Strategic Reserves, or Kostrad.
“Both of them were directly involved. They had been asked to do a favor by some people,” Heri said in Jakarta on Sunday.
“They are fools. They should have thanked God for already receiving salaries and work allowances, but apparently those are still not enough for them,” he added. (Jakarta Globe)
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