September 24, 2024
JAKARTA – The Jakarta Police say that seven male teenagers, whose bodies were found in the Bekasi River in West Java on Sunday, are believed to have drowned after jumping into the water to evade police arrest.
“Based on our initial investigation, these teenagers were planning to have a brawl, but they got scared when they saw officers patrolling the area and jumped into the river,” Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Karyoto said as reported by Kompas.com.
He gave an assurance, however, that the police would not draw early conclusions and would investigate the case fully including by conducting autopsies on the bodies and questioning the families of the deceased.
Karyoto explained that the victims were thought to be part of a group of teenagers arrested by the Bekasi Police at the Cipendawa Industrial Complex, Bekasi, at around 3 a.m. on Saturday.
Authorities suspected that they were poised to have a brawl, particularly after finding that three of them carried bladed weapons. Police have named 15 teenagers as suspects in relation to the incident.
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The National Police’s internal affairs division (Propam) will also investigate officers who were patrolling the area and who arrested the teenagers to ensure they followed standard operating procedures.
“We need to know how the officers reprimanded [the teenagers] or whether there was any form of negligence during the incident,” Karyoto said, promising to conduct the investigation as transparently as possible.
A resident of Jatiasih, Bekasi, found five of the bodies in the Bekasi River on Sunday morning. Local authorities then proceeded to carry out a search and rescue operation along the river and they recovered two other bodies a few hours later.
Jakarta Police General Crimes Directorate (Ditreskrimum) head Sr. Comr. Wira Satya Triputra said that, based on a visual examination, the bodies of the seven teenagers did not appear to have open wounds or broken bones. He added that the police were still in the process of identifying the victims.
Meanwhile, the director of the Institute of Indonesian Police Strategic Studies (Lemkapi), Edi Hasibuan, urged authorities to exercise caution in determining the cause of death of the seven teenagers.
“Police need to examine all of the evidence, including reviewing CCTV cameras around the area before concluding that the teenagers drowned after jumping into the river,” Edi said on Sunday as reported by Antara.