A French national, former mixed martial artist Amokrane Sabet, was shot dead by the Bali police he stabbed a police officer to death. Sabet was shot during an encounter with the police in front of his rented villa in North Kuta.
Officials said both North Kuta Police officers and Bali Police Mobile Brigade personnel went to Sabet's house in Berawa, North Kuta, on Monday at around 11 a.m. to take him into custody after several reports of his misconduct were reported to the police, the Asian Correspondent reported.
The Chief Inspector General of Bali Police, Sugeng Priyanto, said Sabet continuously resisted the arrest by firing back at the visiting officers and attacked them with a knife.
"We gave him warning shots. The perpetrator stabbed one of our officers in several places. He ignored our warning shots so we shot him," he added, tribunnews.com said.
Police had gone to Sabet's house to follow up on those reports and complaints from local people for his trouble-making behaviour during his stay in Berawa. "He had been living in Bali for two years and he made a lot of trouble for locals, such as refusing to pay after eating at local restaurants," Sugeng said.
Police had also informed that after the investigation they came to know that his visa had expired in September last year and he had overstayed his visa.
The police had requested the 49-year-old Sabet a number of times to come to the police station by mail, but he never showed up.
One of the officers, Anak Agung Putu Sudi, 39, succumbed to his wounds after being stabbed eight times in the neck, thigh, and chest by Sabet. Sugeng told the Jakarta Post that Bali police had also coordinated with the French Consulate General before the arrest.
Reports mentioned that Sabet had also refused to pay for tourist facilities which led him to be blacklisted from two tourism places in Berawa and Seminyak. Moreover, he was reported for threatening people and shouting foul language, as well as for reckless driving.
A local who was not willing to be named told the tribunnews.com: "He liked to drive fast and point his middle finger at people." He also added that no one was brave enough to warn him as all of them were scared of Sabet's physical strength and attitude, especially after they came to know that he was a former mixed martial artist."
Nyoman Diantara, a security guard of a restaurant in Berawa, recalled that Sabet once ran away without paying after eating at the restaurant where Nyoman used to work for the past nine years.
Diantara told the tribunnews.com: "He came again for the second time to the restaurant. He threatened my manager until my manager ran asking for people's help. Before that, hotels, villas and restaurants in Seminyak had blacklisted him, which was also the case for here at the Berawa restaurant."
The security guard also mentioned that Sabet not only liked to get into fights and arguments with locals but also allegedly confronted other foreign tourists.
