A group of particularly devious burglars thought they had come up with a brilliant plan, involving witchcraft and curses, to trick naive maids into letting them steal from their employers’ homes. But their scheme ended in death when one of the suspects, Deddy Sahputra (who went by the aliases “Ayah,” “Ustad” and “Mbah”) was shot dead by police for resisting arrest.
In addition to ‘Ustad’, police also arrested two other suspects, Andy Ade Putra (who also used the alias ‘Ayah”) and Herman (alias ‘Ateng’). They were arrested at Hotel Transit in Grogol, West Jakarta, on Thursday morning.
The head of public relations for the Jakarta Police. Commander Rikwanto, explained how Ustad and his fellow criminals robbed luxury homes using ‘witchcraft’
“The perpetrators would deceive a maid in the victim’s home, telling the maid that they had been exposed to witchcraft because of the employer’s property, exposing them to a disease that could not be cured,” Rikwanto told reporters at the Metro Jaya Police Headquarters on Friday, as quoted by Detik.
Metro Jaya Police Commissioner Heru Pranoto explained that the suspects used a rental car to drive around and look for targets. They targeted maids while they were outside of their homes of employment.
“Then they approached the maid, pretending to ask them for a person’s address. But just pretending,” Heru said.
Suspects Andy and Herman were tasked with finding the targets and chatting up the maids. The victims were then escorted to meet with ‘Ustad,’ who would be sitting inside a parked car not far from the location.
After meeting the maid, Ustad would tell the maid that she had been exposed to witchcraft, because her employers owned cursed items that could give diseases to servants.
“He would say to the maid ‘you have been exposed to witchcraft, your employer is keeping stuff that makes you sickly. It can not be cured, it can only be cured if you get rid of your employer’s stuff.” Heru said.
To convince the victim of this fantastic tale, Ustad would tell the maid to spit on a piece of paper. Moments later, the tissue would change color and become as red as blood.
”He’d say, ‘That proves it, you have bloody saliva’. But in fact, the tissue had been treated with some chemicals before [to cause the color change],” Heru said.
Having been convinced, the maids would then bring the suspects into their employer’s home. The criminals would then take valuables from the victim’s home and then flee.
From the suspects, police seized evidence in the form of cash, a screwdriver, a suitcase, a number of watches, wallets and more. For their actions, the still living suspects have been charged under Article 365 of the Criminal Code for committing theft and using violence.
Source: Detik
