Bali police seize gang weapons after jail riot
DENPASAR: Police on Indonesia’s Bali island said yesterday they had seized hundreds of spears, machetes and arrows after fighting between gangs inside a prison and on the streets outside left four dead.
The brawl started late on Thursday in Kerobokan jail, a high-security facility on the resort island that houses many foreigners, where two inmates were killed and two others injured.
“There was a clash in prison involving the inmates. There were stabbings,” Bali police chief Sugeng Priyanto said.
One of those who died had serious stomach wounds, while the other had cuts on his back, according to reports.
As members of Bali’s two biggest gangs clashed inside the jail — which is not far from areas popular with foreign tourists — others on the outside arrived and demanded entry.
Police tried to disperse them but the gang members ended up fighting on the streets in nearby Denpasar, the Balinese capital, where two others were killed and two injured. All those killed and injured were Indonesian.
Bali police spokesman Heri Wiyanto said police had confiscated hundreds of spears, machetes and arrows from the prison as well as from gang members outside the jail.
Police also transferred 59 inmates linked to the gangs to other prisons on the island overnight and the two sides struck a deal to prevent a repeat of the violence, he said.
Kerobokan was still l ocked down yesterday as police questioned more than 50 people. It is not yet clear what triggered the clash.
British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling, is awaiting the firing squad in Kerobokan while Australians from the “Bali Nine” narcotics ring are also housed in the notorious jail.
Bali, a pocket of Hinduism in Muslimmajority Indonesia, is a popular holiday destination with foreigners because of its palm-fringed beaches and nightlife.
But the island has a darker side in the form of its violent gangs, who style themselves after military personnel or members of biker groups and sometimes clash violently on the streets.