Brimob officers arrested for motorcycle theft
Brimob officers arrested for motorcycle theft
JAKARTA (JP): A gang of eight members of the elite police
Mobile Brigade (Brimob) have been arrested for allegedly stealing
a number of motorcycles, including some parked in their unit's
compound in Jakarta Police Headquarters, an officer said.
City police spokesman Supt. Muhammad Nur Haji Usman told
reporters on Friday that the actions of the Brimob officers
constituted a major blow to the police force, which had just
started to institute significant reforms.
"This is very embarrassing for us," Nur said, adding that the
motorcycles stolen from police headquarters could include those
which belonged to journalists.
"I was personally so angry that I could have set fire to
them," Nur said, hopefully in jest, referring to a growing trend
across the country, including the capital, where people take the
law into their own hands, meeting out punishments such as death
by burning for any suspected criminals.
According to officer Nur, the police have so far confiscated
51 motorcycles of various makes from the gang.
He identified the eight suspects only by their initials and
ranks. All were first privates and had been in the force for two
years.
In their operations, Nur said, the gang usually used a
skeleton key to start the vehicles and make away with them.
All of them are now being detained in the Police Internal
Affairs detention center, he said.
"Some of them acted as 'pickers' (thieves) while some of them
were responsible for selling the vehicles," Nur said.
During preliminary investigations, the arrested Brimob
officers admitted to having commenced the thefts in April of this
year.
The arrest of the eight officers followed the confiscation of
a stolen motorcycle from a man in West Jakarta late last month.
"The man said he had bought the vehicle from a Brimob officer.
We then questioned the officer and he gave us other names," Nur
said, adding that it was possible that police investigators would
come up with more suspects later.
Rumors about the detention of the eight police officers have
been circulating since Wednesday but nobody from the force was
willing to comment on the matter.
Nur said that even though the police had been separated from
the military, the suspected police officers would be charged
under the Army Emergency Law (KUHDT) and the Military Crimes
Emergency Law (KUHPM).
Nur said that the men could have committed the crimes because
they had financial problems.
"Police should be well-recruited, well-educated, well-trained,
and well-paid. The last of these requirements is certainly absent
here (in Indonesia)," Nur said. (jaw)