Child Abductor in Sangatta Arrested, Perpetrator Has Sexual Disorder to Extort Victim's Family

JAKARTA - The East Kalimantan Regional Police has arrested a man with the initials MY (32) who is suspected of kidnapping which resulted in the death of a child with the initials MR (7) in East Kutai Regency.

"We are coordinating with the East Kutai Police to pursue the perpetrators who tried to escape from the pursuit of officers," said East Kalimantan Police Chief Inspector General Endar Priantoro at a press conference in Balikpapan, Thursday, June 4.

The police chief said the kidnapping suspect was quickly arrested by a joint team in the Kampung Baru area, West Balikpapan District, Wednesday (3/6), after fleeing the scene in North Sangatta, East Kutai.

Intensive field investigations detected the presence of the perpetrator after officers carefully examined all surveillance camera footage that had recorded the victim's forced pickup by a mysterious motorcycle rider.

During interrogation, the suspect MY admitted that he left the victim alone in the back area of the Al Farouq Grand Mosque, Sangatta, before he left for Balikpapan City.

"Following up on the confession, officers immediately carried out a search until they finally found the victim's body floating in a ditch two meters deep on Wednesday (3/6)," explained Endar.

Based on the results of the external and internal examination by the forensic doctor of the Kudungga Hospital, Sangatta, the victim was confirmed to have died of suffocation because his respiratory tract was filled with water.

"The results of the autopsy by the medical team also showed indications of blunt force trauma in the form of bruises on several parts of the body as well as signs of muscle dilation due to sexual violence," said Endar.

The main motive of the suspect MY to commit this heinous act was due to economic factors to extort the victim's parents as well as to relieve deviant sexual desires.

The police also seized crucial evidence in the form of an operational motorcycle, an online motorcycle jacket, a red helmet, to a cardboard containing the threat of ransom demands.

Now the suspect MY is in the detention cell of the East Kutai Police Headquarters with a charge of Article 450 letter b of Law Number 1 of 2023 of the Criminal Code and or Article 76F Jo Article 83 of Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Changes to Law Number 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection, and Article 458 of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code (KUHP).

MY is threatened with multiple criminal penalties related to kidnapping, rape, and murder with a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.