Jakarta woman dies after getting pulled off motorcycle during high-speed mugging

A Jakarta citizen died in one of the city’s most shocking muggings in recent memory, CCTV footage of which has gone viral online.

On Sunday, 37-year-old Warsilah was riding on a GrabBike on Jalan Ahmad Yani, Central Jakarta. A CCTV recording of the street caught the moment a mugger on a motorcycle drove up from behind them and grabbed something from her — there are conflicting reports on whether it was her phone or handbag — and pulling her off the motorcycle.

Warning: Disturbing footage, potentially NSFW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM91hGvSG9k

The video clearly shows that the victim’s helmet came off as she hit the ground hard. According to reports, her GrabBike driver immediately took her to a hospital but she had already succumbed to a fatal head injury moments after the incident.

The culprit in this case has not been identified.

Warsilah’s tragic death comes amid a spate of widely reported muggings in the Greater Jakarta Area. For example, last Sunday (June 24), a Public Works Ministry official was mugged by two people while he was biking in Kota Tua. Police later arrested the two suspects, but shot one to death for resisting arrest.

The police also revealed that the suspects were part of a huge syndicate of muggers based in North Jakarta called Tenda Oranye (which translates to “Orange Tent”). Authorities believe other similar syndicates might be operating throughout Jakarta and its satellite cities.

A spokesperson for the Jakarta Metro Police said they were doing their best to crackdown on muggers and thugs in the city, but, reflecting on Warsilah’s tragic death, urged the public not to invite criminal action upon themselves.

“We ask for discipline from riders, for example, by not taking out their phones or stowing away their bags properly,” said Jakarta Metro Police Spokesperson Argo Yuwono, as quoted by Detik today.

A poll last week ironically showed that Indonesians feel they are safer from crime than citizens of most other countries (including Denmark). However, a study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit last year put Jakarta near the bottom of its safe cities index.