Auto theft second major offenses, city police say
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Auto theft has become the second major offense this year as between five and seven cars are reportedly stolen every day.
Up until June this year, police received 2,922 reports of auto theft comprising of 2,370 motorcycles, 545 cars and seven three- wheeled vehicles. There were 2,955 cases of burglary, 718 cases of robbery and 674 cases of homicide.
Last year a total of 5,992 auto theft cases were reported, 4,687 cases of burglary and 2,099 cases of robbery.
According to data obtained by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, South Jakarta experienced the highest number of auto thefts with 665 cases, while Central Jakarta and East Jakarta had respectively 598 cases and 538 cases. The lowest numbers were in the Tanjung Priok (KPPP) port area with seven cases and Tangerang with 87 cases reported.
City Police Detective chief Sr. Comr. Andi Chaeruddin said that police officers had uncovered three auto theft syndicates, comprising of 15 suspects.
"We arrested 10 suspects but five remain at large," he said.
Police also seized 10 stolen cars from areas of Jakarta, Bogor, Bandar Lampung in Lampung and Prabumulih in South Sumatra.
Andi said that the syndicates targeted private cars parked in garages -- the thieves broke the padlocks and switched off the car's alarm. Then they pushed the cars away from the houses and used the spare keys to switch on the ignition and flee from the scene.
"However, in some cases thieves used girls to distract their victims before taking their cars," Andi said.
One of the victims, Satori, 52, claimed his car from the City Police Headquarters on Wednesday. Satori, a lecturer at a university in Surakarta, Central Java, said that he had been drugged by a girl claiming to be his ex-student and another man claiming to be her father.
"We met on May 29 in a book shop. She offered me candy but I felt faint and collapsed... When I woke up they had taken my car," he said.
Andi admitted that the police had solved less than 10 percent of crimes involving auto theft this year. He blamed people for not reporting the thefts to the police.
He revealed that most of the auto theft gangs were very professional and could transport the stolen cars from out of the city within a day.
Some auto thieves repainted the stolen cars and changed the license-plates, he added.
"Auto theft suspects are in most cases very mobile. We found it difficult to catch them owing to late information from the victims. Too late for us to catch the suspects," he said.
Andi suggested that car owners could employ extra security measures to avoid theft.
"To discourage the thieves they can use padlocks or an alarm system," he said.
Meanwhile, chief of the City Police Detective's Auto Theft Division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said that those who want to claim their cars can bring their proof of ownership certificate (BPKB) to the police.
"No money is required," claimed Boy.