Beware of gas tank thieves

Beware of gas tank thieves

From Kompas

Thieves in Jakarta are getting more conniving. One particular gang of thieves succeeded in deceiving our servant and took away the liquefied petroleum gas container. The syndicate seems to specialize in stealing this expensive commodity.

One day a man came to our house and offered me a gas (LPG) safety instrument including leakproof pipe complete with its own regulator. The man said that our old pipe was no longer good and must be replaced. He offered the good one at Rp 80,000 (the same thing costs only Rp 10,000 or so in the supermarket), so I politely rejected his offer.

Two days later, on Jan. 19, 1995, shortly after my family and I had left the house to shop, a man riding a motorcycle came to our house again. The man gave a package to our maid saying: "Here is a package for your landlord, it contains three million rupiah. Be careful not to lose it!" The man further said: "Your landlord told me to replace the bad gas container."

Dressed like an official agent from a gas distributor, with a badge on his shirt to identify him, the man looked very convincing. Our maid let the man take the gas container.

When we returned home the maid innocently gave the package to me. I opened it only to find three comic books. Similar crimes have also struck a number of families in our complex. And with three-million-rupiah-turned comics I bought a new gas container that cost me Rp 150,000.

AL. DJAROT H. SADINOE

Jakarta