Armed men break into Polish consul's house
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung
Posing as local administration employees, five robbers got away with jewelry and a luxury car from the residence of the Polish honorary consul on Friday.
The robbers, armed with a pistol and a sword, locked honorary consul Mariola Budiman, her driver, three maids and a bread seller separately in the kitchen and a bathroom before making their getaway in her car.
The driver, Sardi, said two of the robbers, who wore local administration uniforms, arrived at about 2 p.m. and said they wanted to survey the land where the house stood on Jl. Bukit Pakar Utara, in upmarket Dago, some 20 kilometers north of downtown Bandung.
"The two men wearing uniforms were let in by Mrs. Mariola and (housemaid) Yuyu. One of them headed toward the backyard, when the other took out a pistol and locked my employer and colleague in the kitchen," Sardi said.
The area is usually quiet, with only a few vehicles passing.
Mariola's son goes to school in Australia, while her daughter had not arrived home from the local university when the robbery took place.
Sardi said he, other maids Sri and Udin and the bread seller, who had come to the house to deliver bread, were forced into the bathroom and had their hands bound.
"I only gave them the key to a motorcycle and its registration papers, but they opted to take the car and left the motorcycle untouched," Sardi said.
The driver said the robbers may have had a skeleton key to start Mariola's Toyota Harrier car, which bears license plate B 168 VM. The robbers also took Rp 18 million (US1,894) in cash.
Mariola, whose area of responsibility covers West Java, refused to talk to the press.
Polish Embassy deputy chief of mission Slawek Strazewski told The Jakarta Post later in the day that the embassy had asked the police to guard the house following the robbery.
"The people took everything from the house, a car, electronic goods and all her (Mariola) belongings," Strazewski said.
He said the embassy would discuss security precautions for Polish facilities and interests with the Indonesian foreign minister.
It is the second robbery involving government impostors in less than two months. A gang of robbers wearing government employee uniforms stole on Feb. 14 Rp 40 million in cash from Sri Artini Irfan, who lives in Cicendo.
A construction worker, Andri, said two strangers on a motorcycle had asked him the address of a local resident one night.
"They asked me which one was house No. 68A. When I pointed out the house they just left the housing complex," Andi said, adding that a house located 50 meters from Mariola's residence had been robbed a few months earlier.