Journalist In Malang Arrested For Extorting Rp.25 Million From School With Threat

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

MALANG - The Malang Resort Police (Polres) arrested the perpetrator of extortion at a school in the Gondanglegi District, Malang Regency, East Java, who claimed to be a journalist.

Malang Police Chief AKBP Ferli Hidayat said the perpetrator carried out an act of extortion at one of the schools in the area with a value of tens of millions of rupiah.

"We have arrested one person who is suspected of extorting money at a school in Malang Regency," Ferli said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 18.

Ferli explained that the arrest of the perpetrator with the initials EY (48) began when a news appeared in one of the online media which stated that a student at the school had bruises or bruises due to being pinched by a colleague.

According to him, in the news, the student who pinched his friend admitted that he was ordered by one of the teachers at the school. However, this incident did not actually occur after an investigation was carried out by the Gondanglegi Police.

"After the Gonadnglegi Police and the Malang Resort Police conducted an investigation, the allegations of pinching at school were not true," he said.

After the news emerged on August 8, 2022, EY, a resident of Lowokwaru Village, Malang City, came to the school and claimed to be a journalist in an online media.

While at the school, EY expressed his intention to ask the school for money with the aim that news about the pinching of one of the students on the teacher's orders was not published and not reported to the authorities.

"When they came to the school, the extortionists asked for Rp. 25 million," he said.

The school could not fulfill the request from the perpetrator and then tried to negotiate the amount of money that would be given to the perpetrator. The perpetrators agreed that the school should give Rp. 12.5 million.

The school and the perpetrators then held a meeting to hand over the money on August 15, 2022, at approximately 13.00 WIB. When the perpetrator took the money, members of the Malang Police immediately arrested the perpetrator.

"When EY took the money, members of the Malang Police Satreskrim secured the perpetrators along with the evidence," he said.

The officers secured evidence in the form of a journalist's identification card, a non-governmental organization (NGO) card, a cell phone, and cash amounting to Rp5 million. The perpetrator is charged with Article 368 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, with a maximum prison sentence of nine months.