3 Soldiers Admit Vandalizing Vehicles at Ciracas Police Station: TNI Commander

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto revealed that three TNI soldiers had admitted to having vandalized several vehicles during an attack on Ciracas police station in East Jakarta on early Saturday (August 29).

"The Military Police Detachment (Denpom) has questioned 12 people. Three of them admitted to having vandalized a motorcycle and car," he told a press conference, held at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta on Sunday.

Accompanied by National Police Chief General Idham Azis,Tjahjanto said the military police investigators had secured CCTV camera records. They also found from Second Private MI's cellular phone that he had contacted 27 people.

Based on the second CCTV camera record, two motorists might have involved in vandalizing several facilities at the police station during the early morning assault, he said, adding that the preliminary findings would further be examined.

In response to this incident, Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD had demanded that the attack on the Ciracas police station be handled properly in accordance with existing laws.

He believed that the case could more easily be resolved due to closer relationship of the military and police chiefs.

Mahfud MD, however, appealed to the people at large, including those from the law enforcement agencies, to avoid acts of vigilantism.

On Saturday at around 01:45 a.m.local time, some 100 people attacked the Ciracas police station in East Jakarta causing several facilities there to get destroyed.

The attackers also set them ablaze at around 2 a.m. local time, according to the East Jakarta Fire Information Service. Several cars and carts parked on the street were reportedly damaged.

The attack was the second of its kind to have occurred since December 11, 2018, when a group of unidentified people also attacked the Ciracas police station.

Chief of the Public Relations Services of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Commissioner Yusri Yunus stated that the police were yet probing possible links between the two incidents.

Read also: Attack on Ciracas Police Station Tarnishes State Symbol: Lemkapi

ANTARA