Image: Man kidnapped. Credit: stylemagazine.com
The Bali Polda Special Investigations Unit succeeded in solving a kidnap case involving a Bulgarian man this week.
The victim, George Jordanov, 47, from Sofia, was locked up for three days from February 3 to 6.
A Bali Polda officer told Tribune Bali that Jordanov was first attacked on Jalan Sunset Road, Kuta, when he went to buy cigarettes on Saturday, February 3, at around 9.30pm. When he walked in front of a Turkish kebab restaurant, an unknown man came towards him. Then, several men came and surrounded him. “The victim was taken to a place at the back of the warung where the thieves took his belongings, two million Rupiah and two mobile phones,” said a source to balipost.com.
Several minutes later, another group of men arrived and beat him again. Then they covered his eyes with cloth and put him into a car. “The victim was locked up for three days in a room in a house. However, the kidnapping was recorded and uploaded to social media,” he said.
According to Jawa Pos, in the 27-second video, the perpetrators are dressed in Balinese traditional clothing with a number of burly men suspected of being (preman) thugs. The main character had time to speak in English and in essence said they awaited the arrival of all Bulgarians in Bali.
The kidnappers asked for a ransom of USD 20.000 to the Bulgarian Ambassador in Jakarta. The Bulgarian Ambassador directly reported the incident to the police.
After receiving the report, one of the Denpasar Police Intel Unit members, Inspector Ketut Paang saw the uploaded video on social media and recognized one of the suspects, GW or Dek Pul, who happens to be a known preman boss. He contacted GW to meet in a fast food restaurant on Jalan Dewi Sri, Kuta.
After questioning GW, the other suspects’ identities were found.
“The police investigated the case further and pursued the suspects. Finally, they were caught in Kuta, Denpasar and South Kuta areas. They were then brought to Polda headquarters,” he said. (There was no mention anywhere of where and how the kidnapped man was found. Ed)
After the arrests were made, it was discovered one of the kidnappers was a Bulgarian who was suspected to be the mastermind of the crime. Besides the Bulgarian there were eight Indonesian suspects arrested.
The Head of Bali Polda Special Investigation Unit, Police Commissioner Sang Made Mahendra Jaya, confirmed the arrest but, didn’t want to offer any further information. “The investigation is continuing right now. We will hold a press conference tomorrow with the complete details,” he said to tribunnews.com.
