Cars seized with fake documents

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police traffic officers have seized 20 cars, including a BMW, a Mercedes Benz and a jeep, and 30 motorcycles since November last year, with fake vehicle ownership documents, fake license plates and fake licenses, the traffic police chief said on Monday.

Col. Nyoman Sukesna said no suspects had been arrested so far.

"The suspects sell the cars via several middlemen, who are strangers to one another. The middlemen place advertisements in the papers," Nyoman told reporters at Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Quoting statements from the car owners, Nyoman said the suspects would place two kinds of advertisements in the papers, typically listing a temporary house address, or only a cell phone number.

"The middlemen would take off from the contracted houses once a deal was made. Once the cars were sold, the middleman would then move on to another home," Nyoman said.

"If a potential buyer were to call an advertised cell phone number, the middleman would visit the house of the potential buyer, ready with his fake ID card, whose numbers were already on the fake vehicle ownership documents of the car he meant to sell to the buyer."

"It's as if this middleman was the first owner of the car, so that he could convince the buyer in case the buyer wanted to extend the ownership and needed to borrow the ID of the middleman."

Nyoman said the traffic police were doing their best to track down the suspects.

"I urge all city residents before they buy cars, to check the documents of the car they mean to buy with city traffic police headquarters." (ylt)