•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Denpasar. Bali Police confirmed on Wednesday that they had arrested two men alleged to have murdered Japanese tourist Hiromi Shimada.

Police sources told the Jakarta Globe that the alleged killers, identified only as Abdul and Mawardi, had been employed as construction workers on a building site in Jalan Raya Tuban, Kuta, located only a few meters away from Shimada’s rented house on Jalan Sada Sari.

Shimada’s naked body was found bound, beaten and stabbed on Sunday morning.

The source said Abdul and Mawardi had been identified by a key witness named Dani, who worked with the suspects.

Police arrested Mawardi at work on Monday. During his interrogation, police say the 31-year-old East Lombok confessed to the crime. Abdul had fled to Jember in East Java, where he was arrested. The suspects are in Denpasar Police custody.

The source said the murder took place after Shimada came to see Abdul, Mawardi and Dani at their construction site on Friday. She asked the men to come to her house. Dani refused, while Abdul asked Mawardi to go with him.

“It was rumored that she had taken a shine to Abdul. But we don’t know how long they have had a relationship and to what extent,” the source said. Once in the house, Shimada reportedly asked Abdul to join her in the bathroom. Mawardi chose to wait in the adjacent bedroom. That was when he heard Shimada scream.

“Mawardi decided not to do anything, thinking the two of them were making love,” said the source, who said he was involved in the arrests.

Some time later, Abdul came out of the bathroom dragging Shimada into the bedroom where Mawardi was waiting. The two men panicked when Shimada began screaming and struggling again. Abdul then bound her feet with cloth, while Mawardi stabbed her in the chest and abdomen with a knife, the source said.

After the murder, the pair reportedly fled, though Mawardi returned to the construction site to hide the knife he used to kill Shimada under a water tower.

“The knife and other evidence, such as the clothes the men wore while committing murder, have also been found. Other evidence, including the victim’s credit card, has not been tracked down,” the source said.

Ida Bagus Subhiksu, head of the Bali Tourism Office, expressed his appreciation for the police’s quick work in capturing the alleged murderers amidst fears that such an incident could harm the tourism industry.

“This at least helps to restore Bali’s tourism image,” he said.