Two Turkish men claimed their innocence as they were being brought in by police for questioning as the primary suspects in a series of convenience-store robberies in Lampung.
“He lies! All Arab men have same face like me. He lies!” one of the suspects shouted to reporters as officers from the Jakarta Police escorted him to police headquarters.
The men, who were arrested on Thursday morning at a Central Jakarta hotel, were identified by police as Yaman Alper, a k a Saeed Hedattirad, 32, and Mehmet Sahin, 19.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Nico Afinta, head of the violent crimes division at the Jakarta Police, said on Thursday police had acted on information received from a rental car driver who had seen CCTV footage of two men and a woman hypnotizing a convenience store clerk and then stealing money.
“The driver remembered the two men from TV. He told us he had dropped the same men off to a hotel in Central Jakarta,” Nico said at a media conference.
The CCTV footage, which has been aired on national television over the past few days, shows two men and a woman, all Middle Eastern in appearance, entering a convenience store on Jalan Sukarno-Hatta in Bandar Lampung.
As the woman talks to the cashier and store attendants, the employees can be seen handing money over to the suspects. One of the two male suspects can also be seen putting his hand in the cash register and taking money out.
Three customers waiting in line appear not to react to the theft. The suspects then coolly walk out of the convenience store.
There is also CCTV footage of at least one other similar robbery.
“We believe these are the men because they are wearing the exact same clothes as seen on the TV footage,” Nico said.
“Both men are originally from Istanbul. We have their passports and know they have also traveled to Malaysia and Vietnam. We are checking if they have conducted the same kind of robberies in either country.
“We believe they conducted a similar crime at a cafe in a hotel in Central Jakarta. They acted as if they wanted to exchange foreign currency, then they hypnotize the clerk and steal the money.”
Nico said the police were still tracking down the whereabouts of the female suspect.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo reiterated on Thursday that he had instructed his officers across the capital to shoot robbers on sight, following a spate of armed robberies across the country during the holy month of Ramadan.
Three gold stores at a market in South Jakarta were hit in one recent robbery that occurred during Friday prayers.
“We will act firmly. They are dangerous, and we will paralyze them,” Timur told reporters, adding that a heightened security alert was in place ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday from Sept. 10-11 across the Greater Jakarta Area.
