'Bajing loncat' arrested

'Bajing loncat' arrested

BANDUNG: Four street criminals operating along the north
coastal roads were arrested and thousands of car tires they had
recently stolen were seized, police said.

West Java Police detective chief Col. Soejono said on Monday
that the criminals, locally known as bajing loncat (jumping
squirrels), were apprehended in an operation on Sunday evening on
the roads around Subang.

The suspects, identified as Kardi, Ahfi, Albert and Franki,
all are at their 30s, were caught when robbing a trailer
transporting 1,300 IRC-brand car tires, Soejono said.

"Two of the criminals, Kardi and Ahfi, stopped the trailer at
Patok Besi, Jati Sari, Subang. While two others were waiting in a
car. Pretending that they wanted to go to a certain place, Kardi
and Ahfi asked the driver Puji Suhartono for a ride. On the way,
however, they forced the driver to give up the steering wheel,"
Soejono said.

The driver, who was in the truck's cabin with his wife and
four-year-old child, was helpless, when the criminals turned the
truck back to Karawang where they unloaded the tires, Soeyono
said.

The driver, along with his wife and child, was taken to the
Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta and given bus tickets.

The four are now in police custody. (43/sur)