Nine teenagers have been arrested, accused of conducting multiple street robberies, including the worst of which where they allegedly ganged up and stabbed a man in Denpasar.
The teenagers, led by 15-year-old MAD, have been identified in reports by their initials: KAP, 15, RZL, 15, IKR,15, IKA,15, IWRM,15, IK aka Imung,17, SDC aka Dwik,15, and IGAP alias Open 15.
They were arrested on Sept. 28, following the robbery of 21-year-old student, where they surrounded their victim on the road and demanded his valuables and started beating him with a chair when he refused, according to Bali Post.
“The perpetrators yelled ‘thief’ and then beat the victim,” South Denpasar Insp. Bangkit Dananjaya told reporters on Monday, of the Sept. 28 incident.
The teens, riding on motorbike robbed the victim (also on motorbike at the time), grabbing his wallet which contained IDR400k (US$30) and a mobile phone, police said.
The robberies conducted by these teens would always be in the middle of the night and the teens would arm themselves with knives and staple guns.
“They always had two stainless folding knives places on the dashboard of their motorbikes.”
The staple guns were apparently used to mimic the sound of gunshots, says Dananjaya.
“They were used to frighten the victims.”
The group, allegedly led by MAD, committed robberies in six locations across Denpasar this year, between August 2017, until Sept. 28, 2017. The most violent of which, involved a stabbing, say police.
“They always did it in groups and would not hesitate to hit or even stab the victim. The brains of the operation was MAD.”
The group of teens would cover the license plates of their motorbikes with black plastic when carrying out their robberies, making it more difficult for police to identify them.
“Their crime money was used for food,” Dananjaya said.
“At first we arrested six perpetrators, but based on our investigation, there turned out to be three other suspects, who we ended up arresting,” Dananjaya said.
While the group sure ‘ganged up’, police say the teens are not a part of an actual motorcycle gang in Bali—something police have been hardcore targeting in 2017.
