A gang of thieves stealing Texmaco container busted
A gang of thieves stealing Texmaco container busted
JAKARTA (JP): After two months of hunting, the Tanjung Priok
police have hauled in two men suspected in the theft of a
container loaded with 7.9 tons of textiles from the cargo
terminal at the harbor.
"Three of the suspects' accomplices are still at large, but we
already know who they are. Hopefully, we'll also catch them
soon," Lt. Col. Murawi Effendi, chief of the Tanjung Priok harbor
police, told reporters yesterday.
This is the third cargo theft case solved by the Tanjung Priok
police in a month.
Earlier, officers apprehended four suspects in the theft of
2,300 sheets of leather imported by PT Indo Kulit. Another group
of hard-core cargo thieves was caught while breaking into a
container.
Murawi said the theft of the textile container occurred on the
evening of May 11. It was reported by the PT Texmaco Jaya textile
factory, the owner of the stolen property, on the following day.
PT Texmaco Jaya suffered Rp 300 million (US$138,400) in losses
due to the theft.
The textile firm, based in Karawang, West Java, had sent the
container, loaded with 7.9 tons of textiles to Tanjung Priok for
shipment to the Netherlands.
Around 8 p.m. on May 11, the truck pulling the container
arrived at the cargo terminal late. It missed the Tetawisesa,
owned by Samudra Indonesia shipping lines, which was to carry the
cargo to its destination.
"The ship had departed several minutes earlier, as scheduled,"
Murawi said.
The truck's driver then left the container at the terminal in
the care of a factory employee and headed back to Karawang to
fetch other containers.
The employee reportedly left the cargo alone for a few minutes
to arrange with the harbor authorities for the textiles to be
shipped by another carrier.
Fence's role
While he was absent, a four-strong gang of thieves, identified
by the police by their initials NRY, 30, EE, 30, AS, 32, and SN,
31, entered the area with a semi-trailer truck and hooked it to
the unattended container.
After successfully avoiding inspection at the terminal's gate,
the thieves sold the goods to a fence named IS, 47, who stored
them at an empty house, reportedly a former lubricant-oil
storehouse, in Cengkareng district, West Jakarta.
After the sale, the thieves drove the stolen container to
Pakulon, West Java, and left it at the side of a street.
Two days later, the fence transferred the stolen goods to the
Tri Sanjaya car body repair shop in Tegal, West Java.
The Tanjung Priok police who were hunting for the outlaws
managed to capture one of them, NRY, in Tegal on Tuesday last
week.
During interrogation, the suspect told the police that the
stolen property was being stored at Tri Sanjaya.
Police raided the shop the following day, only to discover
that a large part of the goods had been sold by the fence IS to
several wholesalers in Jakarta.
Police captured IS and seized more than five tons of textiles
from him and the traders.
"Both suspects admitted that the gang committed four cargo
thefts over the past six months," Murawi said. (jsk)