25 burglars attack third Catholic school

JAKARTA (JP): At least 25 people broke into Charitas School in South Jakarta yesterday, the third such school burglary in the last seven days.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said the crooks forced their way into the school complex on Jl. Mawar Indah 75, Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, at around 5:30 a.m. and managed to make away with almost Rp 9 million (US$3,600) in cash.

"They also took an 11-gram gold necklace belonging to one of the security guards and two 20-inch television sets," Aritonang said.

He said that the men arrived in three Kijang vans and immediately assaulted three security guards, including AAS, 35, who was watering the garden.

"The security guards were tied up in a room to enable the burglars to search for money and other valuables," Aritonang said.

A similar burglary took place Monday at the private Don Bosco school site near Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. Then the attackers injured two of the security guards.

"In Monday's burglary, the attackers escaped with around Rp 360,000 and two walkie talkies," he said.

Another burglary hit the Ricci school in Pondok Betung, Tangerang, last Thursday in which one of the school's guards and the head of the school's foundation were hurt.

All three schools are Catholic.

Christy Vera, one of the sisters at Charitas told ANteve yesterday that she and another sister had also been tied up by the attackers.

She said they knocked at her room and she opened the door because she thought it was her fellow sisters. At least 10 sisters were at the school site at the time the break-in occurred.

"The men pointed their machetes at me as soon as I opened the door," she said. They then demanded she tell them about the money.

A police source said that one of the attackers was thought to have carried a hand gun.

The source said that the attacker assumed the new school year was the best time to burgle schools because they had just collected money from their students.

"The attackers must have thought that the money was being kept at the school. Most schools however, including Charitas, now deposit their money in a bank immediately," the source said.

The stolen money was not the students' money, but the sisters'.

Aritonang said the police had taken fingerprints left at the crime scene in an effort to reveal the identity of the attackers.

The school's students were sent home yesterday as the police were still investigating at the site. (cst)