City police investigate four cases of vehicular theft
City police investigate four cases of vehicular theft
JAKARTA (JP): City police are investigating four vehicular
thefts that occurred in the capital over the last two days and
arrested a man on Tuesday who was believed to be involved in one
of the thefts.
Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said two of
the thefts involved motorcycles and the other two involved cars.
The thefts occurred in North Jakarta, South Jakarta and Depok.
The latest theft was experienced by an ojek (motorcycle taxi)
driver identified as Erwin, 24, in North Jakarta on Tuesday.
Erwin told the police that the incident started when he was
stopped by a man, identified later as Fauzi, 19, on Jl. Raya
Cakung Cilincing at about 5 a.m.
Pretending to be a passenger, Fauzi asked Erwin to take him to
a certain place. However, before reaching the destination, Fauzi
started to strangle Erwin with a sarong.
"Erwin and Fauzi fell off the motorcycle and the chance was
taken by the latter to take the motorcycle," Lubis told
reporters.
When Fauzi was attempting to run away with the Tornado Suzuki,
however, he was halted by local residents who were alerted by
Erwin's cry for help. Fauzi was beaten before being handed over
to a nearby police station.
Several hours earlier, the driver of a private taxi was found
by residents in a quiet area of Kali Suren village in Bojong Gede
district in Depok with his hands and feet bound with plastic
rope, and his mouth and eyes covered with adhesive tape.
The Kijang van, driven by the victim identified as Haji Heri,
a resident of Cianjur in West Java, was stolen by four
unidentified men.
Heri told the police that he had picked up four passengers in
Bandung who asked him to drive them to Ciputat, Tangerang, after
they settled on a price for the fare from Bandung to Ciputat.
"When they approached the destination, however, two of the men
threatened him with a machete and an iron bar," Lubis said,
adding that the suspects ordered Heri to stop the car.
One of the men forced Heri out of the car and took over the
steering wheel.
Separately in Kemang in South Jakarta, an unidentified man
made away with a Honda motorcycle, belonging to Kemang resident
D. Yuliadi.
According to police, Yuliadi planned to sell his motorcycle
and had advertised it in a local daily newspaper.
A man, pretending to be a buyer, went to Yuliadi's house at
about 8 p.m. and agreed to buy the motorcycle for Rp 6 million.
"The man wanted to have a test drive and asked Yuliadi's
permission," Lubis said, adding that Yuliadi let the man leave
his house with the motorcycle, but the latter never returned.
The four vehicular thefts also included the carjacking of a
Kijang van from a son of Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri on a street near his family
home on Jl. T.B. Simatupang in South Jakarta at about 2:30 a.m.
on Monday.
Muhamad Prananda Prabowo was left unharmed on Jagorawi toll
road, police said.
Lubis acknowledged that there is an upward trend in vehicular
theft, especially targeting lone motorists at night.
"Reports of theft received by the police might only be two or
three a day, but in reality I believe the number is much higher,"
Lubis told reporters.
However, head of the city police's vehicular theft unit Maj.
Hengki Kaluara said the number of thefts was relatively less than
in previous weeks.
"The number of vehicular thefts increased several days before
the Ramadhan fasting month and the Idul Fitri holiday," he said.
During those weeks, reports of vehicular theft reached eight
to 10 per day, Hengki said.
He said that suspects of vehicular theft were difficult to
arrest because they operated in different areas and used
increasingly complicated modus operandi.
He said the number may have decreased, but the quality had
increased with the use of weapons and the way the suspects
treated the victims, including dumping them on toll roads. (emf)