Police Detain Village Head And 4 Village Officials Suspected Of Extortion

ANTARA/Teuku Dedi Iskandar)

BANDA ACEH - Investigator of the Nagan Raya Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Aceh, detained a village head and four Serbajadi Village officials, Darul Makmur District, local district, for allegedly related to illegal levies to the community.

"The five suspects we have detained are because all suspects are suspected of having made illegal levies related to the sale and purchase of land," said Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of Nagan Raya Police AKP Machfud in a press statement quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 7.

The five village officials who have been detained have the initials SU as village head, then RU as village secretary, and WA, MI, Sera MO as the head of the hamlet in Serbajadi Village, Darul Makmur District, Nagan Raya Regency.

AKP Machfud said the case of alleged illegal levies allegedly carried out by the five village officials was revealed after this case was reported by the public to the police.

This case was reported to the police after the suspects were suspected of carrying out illegal levies by extorting the public, with the total money collected by the suspects reaching Rp40 million.

The Rp40 million money, said AKP Machfud, was the result of extortion related to the sale and purchase of public land under the pretext of being a fee of 10 percent of each land owner.

He said the number of people who were victims of extortion carried out by the suspects currently amounted to six people.

"So, the indication of extortion carried out by this village apparatus refers to the village Qanun (Perda) which was previously mutually agreed upon," said AKP Machfud added.

However, after the police conducted a search on Qanun's pretext of extortion, it was found that there was no language of mutual agreement regarding the fee of 10 percent of every community who traded land in the village.

AKP Machfud said the detention of the five suspects was carried out as an effort to facilitate the ongoing legal process.

"We still need the five suspects to continue the ongoing investigation," said AKP Machfud.