Police Check The Mentality Of Train Carriage Burners At Yogyakarta Tugu Station

The police gave a press statement regarding the arrest of the perpetrator of the burning of a train carriage at Tugu Station at the Yogyakarta Regional Police Headquarters, Sleman, Friday (14/3/2025). ANTARA/Luqman Hakim

YOGYAKARTA - The Directorate of General Criminal Investigation (Ditreskrimum) of the Yogyakarta Regional Police conducted a psychiatric examination of MR (17), a teenager who burned a spare train carriage parked at the Yogyakarta Tugu Station empilas.

Dirreskrimum Polda DIY Kombes FX. Endriadi said his party needed to conduct an examination to explore MR's psychological condition before his party named him a suspect.

"Regarding the person concerned, we also ask for a psychiatric examination. It is still in process, and today the team plans to come," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, March 14.

On Wednesday (12/3) morning, MR allegedly sneaked into the train carriage through the side door. After entering, he then burned a chair made of foam using cardboard paper that had been ignited by fire.

As a result, two executive train carriages and one premium train carriage caught fire.

Endriadi explained that MR is a resident of Jakarta who is known to have sensory or visual impairment.

MR allegedly carried out the action because of the motive for being hurt towards PT KAI.

Based on the results of the examination which was also assisted by sign language experts, the perpetrator admitted that he was often sent by officers at the next station because he did not have a travel ticket.

"The perpetrator's motive is to hurt KAI officers because they are often taken off the train because they don't have tickets," explained Endriadi.

Previously, MR was arrested by the police in the Malioboro area of Yogyakarta City shortly after the fire incident of three train carriages.

The alleged perpetrator narrowed the figure of MR after a series of crime scene processing processes, analysis of CCTV footage, and investigation involving the Central Java Forensic Laboratory (Labfor) and the Inafis Team.

In handling this case, the police confiscated a number of evidences, including clothes worn by the perpetrators, black bags, brown cardboard paper, and two red and blue matches.

The police charged MR with Article 180 in conjunction with Article 197 of Law Number 23 of 2007 concerning Railways, as well as Article 187, Article 188, and Article 406 of the Criminal Code with a penalty of 12 years in prison.

"We conducted a previous survey of the person concerned with his mental state. The article allows us to be detained because of the threat of 12 years," he said.

Deputy Executive Vice President (EVP) Daop 6 Yogyakarta Nugroho Dwi Sasongko said that MR had a long track record related to incidents in the railway environment.

Based on KAI's records, MR was sent down by the conductor several times due to not having a ticket.

"Fromrecord kami, there were up to nine times the perpetrators were taken down because they didn't have a ticket. It has happened since 2022. In addition, he has also carried out vandalism several times and has blocked trains with blocks in Bekasi," said Nugroho.

Not only that, the perpetrator also has a history of other crimes such as motorcycle theft at Palur Station.

"So, quite a series, the history of the perpetrators is quite a lot, and coincidentally it's all related to trains," said Nugroho.

Three reserve train carriages (KA) who were parked at the Yogyakarta Tugu Station were burned on Wednesday (12/3) at around 06.44 WIB. The fire was successfully extinguished at 07.30 WIB.

There were no casualties or disturbances in train travel due to the incident.