Thugs pretending to be police try to blackmail young couple at Monas for Rp 1 million

Jakarta is obviously a much more liberal city than say, Banda Aceh. But it’s still a city where police routinely raid boarding houses to check for unmarried couples sleeping together. So it’s sad but not too surprising for us to hear that there are unscrupulous thugs out there pretending to be the morality police in order to satisfy their own greed.

Two such thugs, identified as 37-year-old ABD and 35-year-old DI, came upon a couple of teenagers, one 18-years-old and the other 19, at the National Monument (Monas) on Sunday. The thugs pretended to be members of the city’s Satpol PP (civil service police) and accused the young couple of indecency. Then they did something that was actually indecent by trying to demand Rp 1 million from the young couple to avoid arrest. 

Fortunately members of the actual police caught on to what the thugs were doing and questioned them. Both claimed they were former member of Paspampres (Presidential Security Forces) but the police did not buy it.

Central Jakarta Criminal Police Commander Siswo Yuwono told Merdeka that the thugs were not able to get Rp 1 million out of the young couple, but they did manage to take one of their mobile phones. 

“The perpetrators could only get a mobile phone belonging to one of the victims. As a result of their actions, they were charged under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for extortion and face 7 years imprisonment,” Siswo said.