KPK Nabs 18 Suspects at Jakarta's Airport

Jakarta (Antara) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has nabbed 18 suspects including two police officers and an army man at the Soekarno Hatta Airport, the KPK chairman Abraham Samad said at the airport on Saturday. "We just nabbed 14 men including an army man and two policemen. The rest are hoodlums or scalpers," KPK chairman Abraham Samad said at the airport. When the KPK leader was still giving his statement at the office of the airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura II, four other suspects were arrested bringing the number to 18 suspects. KPK launched an impromptu inspection in cooperation with police, state owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II and other related agencies. For many years in the past no TKI had been victims of organized extortion at the airport, Samad said. Accompanying Samad leading the operation at the airport were his deputies including Bambang Widjojanto, Zulkarnain and Adnan Pandu Praja, and police chief of detective agency Commissioner Geneneral Suhardi Alius and officials of PT Angkasa Pura II and other related agencies. Suhardi said the suspects would be grilled thoroughly as they are believed to be not alone in their illegal operations. "They are not alone. There are indications that they are members of an organized crime," he said. He said the 18 suspects had been caught forcing TKI to exchange their foreign currencies into rupiah at a much lower rate than the market value. "We are set to clean the airport from the illegal practice to make the airport safe especially for TKI," he said. (*)