Jakarta. Two Indonesian army soldiers have been implicated in the fatal abduction of a state bank manager, alongside 13 civilian suspects, the Jakarta Military Police Command (Pomdam Jaya) confirmed on Tuesday.

The victim, 37-year-old Mohamad Ilham Pradipta, was kidnapped on August 20 and found dead the following day in Nagasari village, Bekasi.

Colonel Donny Agus, commander of Pomdam Jaya, identified the soldiers as Chief Sergeant N, a member of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus), and Second Corporal FH. “On August 18, Chief Sergeant N contacted fellow soldier FH, asking if he would accept a task of ‘picking someone,’” Donny told reporters.

The pair later met with a civilian suspect, identified as JP, at a café in East Jakarta to plan the abduction. FH demanded Rp 95 million ($5,900) to carry out the task, which Sergeant N paid just hours before the kidnapping.

Surveillance footage from a Lotte Mart parking lot in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, showed Ilham, dressed in a batik shirt, walking toward his car in the rain before being surrounded and forced into a white Toyota Avanza. He was later transferred to a Toyota Fortuner carrying Sergeant N and two other men.

Ilham’s body, bound and blindfolded, was discovered by a cattle herder at dawn on August 21.

“We continue to investigate the case in collaboration with the Jakarta Police to track more suspects,” Donny said.

Motive: Dormant Accounts
Investigators believe the abduction was tied to a criminal syndicate’s attempt to access dormant bank accounts overseen by Ilham. Indonesia’s anti-money laundering agency (PPATK) had earlier ordered state banks to freeze thousands of dormant accounts suspected of being exploited by gambling and criminal groups.

Jakarta Police criminal investigation director Chief Commissioner Wira Satya Saputra said the syndicate sought to divert funds from these accounts, and Ilham was specifically targeted.

One suspect, known as Candy, allegedly possessed detailed knowledge of dormant accounts at the state bank branch managed by Ilham. According to police, Candy met with associates on July 30 to plot ways of exploiting the accounts, initially seeking bank managers’ cooperation, but prepared to use force if necessary.

Ilham’s name surfaced during these discussions after Candy reportedly obtained his business card through his network.

To date, police and the military have arrested 15 suspects in connection with the case and are pursuing another fugitive.