Four Indonesia Cops Arrested For Kidnapping Brit Expat

Story ByMichael Leidig,Sub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyAsia Wire Report

Four Indonesian police officers have been arrested over the kidnapping of a British man who was only freed after his boss paid a 700,000-GBP ransom.

The man, who has not been named, was grabbed when the officers allegedly staged a fake arrest after stopping him on a toll road in the capital Jakarta last week.

They allegedly convinced him that it was a genuine arrest by first of all taking him to their police station.

But he was later moved to a hotel in the city, where the alleged kidnappers, that included a colleague of his forced him, to make a phone call to his employer in order to ask for the ransom money. The colleague as well as another civilian were both arrested together with the four police officers.

Local media reported that the kidnapped man had been on his way to meet a work colleague when he was snatched.

Jakarta’s police spokesman Argo Yuwono said that the ransom money which was worth 700,000 GBP was paid in 900,000 USD. They then converted this to local currency.

The British Embassy has confirmed that it is aware of the incident however declined to make any other comment describing it as a “matter for the Indonesian police”.

All six arrested people are currently being held in investigative custody and face dismissal as well as lengthy jail terms if convicted of the kidnapping.

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