A horrifying series of murders allegedly perpetrated by a so-called money-multiplying dukun (shaman) named Tohari, alias Mbah Slamet, have seemingly been unearthed by police in Indonesia.
Officials say that 12 bodies have been recovered from land near Tohari’s home and there may be more victims still out there.
The initial discovery came after police in the Banjarnegara regency of Central Java investigated a report about a missing person that had met with Tohari, who had promised to magically double his money.
Banjarnegara Police Chief Hendri Yulianto explained that one of the victims, a man with the initials PO (53), had traveled from Sukabumi to Tohari’s house on March 20. PO apparently had some misgivings about the meeting as he told his child to contact the police and come with them to Tohari’s house should he become unreachable.
When PO did go missing, his child reported it to the police who then went to investigate Tohari on Sunday.
During their investigation, they found several victims buried in land near Tohari’s home in Balun Village, located in the Wanayasa District of Banjarnegara.
Hendri revealed that at least five victims had given Tohari amounts ranging from IDR 30 million to IDR 50 million. The body count continued to rise as more victims were discovered, totaling 10.
Two more bodies were eventually found, bringing the victim count to 12. Police are unsure if this number will continue to increase.
“It is possible that more may be found,” Hendri said today, as quoted by Kompas.
According to the police, Tohari has confessed to killing at least 10 people, although the statements he has given them have been inconsistent and he claims not to remember the identities of his victims.
Tohari allegedly lured victims with the promise of doubling their money by performing a ritual. He would then offer them a soft drink mixed with potassium cyanide. The victims would die within five minutes of consuming the drink, which Tohari called a “magic liquid”.
Police said Tohari may have been carrying out the killings since 2020. However, police are still verifying the suspect’s statements, as the information provided has been inconsistent.
They also said that some of the victims included husbands and wives, and four were female. The only victim that has been successfully identified by police so far is PO.
Conmen who claim to have supernatural powers that they can use to conjur up gold or multiply people’s money have existed for quite some time in Indonesia, with other seemingly similar cases also ending in murder.
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