Five young men in Berau, East Kalimantan were killed in an act of vengeance, local police said, after they were tricked into downing hand sanitizer liquid.
Police said the suspect, who has been identified as a 17-year-old male by the initials HK, invited the victims — who were described as “punks,” a local catch-all term for rebellious street thugs — for a drink on Saturday.
HK, who said he had been repeatedly extorted by the victims, gave them a jerry can containing 5 liters of an alcoholic drink that he mixed with hand sanitizer liquid.
“The suspect took a couple of sips but he immediately went to the kitchen to spit out the liquid,” Berau Police Chief Anggoro Wicaksono said yesterday.
The victims, meanwhile, drank the entire content of the jerry can. Soon after, five of the victims, whose ages ranged between 17 and 20, had seizures and died.
“Two others are still being treated at a hospital,” Anggoro said.
Premeditated murder is a crime punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty in Indonesia.
