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Police said on Tuesday that they believed there was a conspiracy to murder Sanex Steel head Tan Hari Tantono and that alleged gangster John Kei was merely a hit man hired by an unknown mastermind who planned the killing.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto indicated that investigators doubted the explanation that was provided by five men they arrested shortly after the killing, allegedly henchmen in John’s gang.

The men reportedly said the killing of Tan, also known as Ayung, was over an unpaid Rp 600 million ($67,000) fee due for debt collection services provided by John’s men.

“Once we are able to focus on the murder, we’ll delve into the motive, whether it was what we’ve been told [Ayung’s failure to pay for debt collecting services] or whether there was someone else who ordered the killing,” Rikwanto said.

He went on to say that although police were for the time being concentrating on the details of the murder itself, they would soon turn to checking the theory that it was ordered by one of Ayung’s business associates.

“We’ll look into who ordered the killing, and why,” the spokesman said.

John, meanwhile, has denied any involvement in the murder of Tan, who was found dead in Central Jakarta’s Swiss-Belhotel in January.

Rikwanto said Ayung had known his alleged killer a long time. As a businessman, he had often used John’s gang members as security and escorts, he said.

“It’s certain that the victim was a close acquaintance of the suspect, John and his group. He wasn’t someone who’d he’d just met a day or two before, Rikwanto said.

“From the testimony we’ve collected, they had long been close and Tan often used the services of John and his henchmen.”

Meanwhile, police said they were treating Alba Fuad, the 1980s film star arrested along with John in a room at the C’One Hotel in East Jakarta, as a drug user, not a dealer, based on the discovery in her home of 0.5 grams of methamphetamine.

Alba told police that she got the drugs from a dealer in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta.

“There are no indications that she is a dealer, just a user. We’re looking for her dealer now,” Rikwanto said.

Her level of addiction to meth would be soon be determined by medical experts at the Drug Addiction Treatment Hospital (RSKO) in Ciracas, East Jakarta, Rikwanto said.

He also said that Alba would be questioned to determine what she knew about the incident in which police shot John.

“She will be interviewed as a witness in John’s case,” he said.

On Tuesday, John was still in custody in the Kramat Jati police hospital in East Jakarta and was not well enough to be questioned by investigators. Police said he was undergoing surgery to repair damage done by a gunshot sustained during his arrest on Friday.

“He experienced a gunshot wound. A bullet entered his right calf and damaged his shin bone, and a pin is being inserted,” said Rikwanto, adding that his family had been permitted to visit him since Monday.

In addition to the investigation into Ayung’s murder, Rikwanto said police would also take the opportunity to bring John to book for other offenses in which they say he was involved.

Any charges for other crimes would be pursued separately, Rikwanto said.

“After one trial is over, he can be sent to trial to face the next case, as long as the crimes are not beyond the statute of limitations,” he said.

There are thought to be at least 12 crimes attributed to John , including Ayung’s murder and other threats, assaults and torture.

Additional reporting by Ezra Sihite