City police search for exclusive watch thief
City police search for exclusive watch thief
JAKARTA (JP): City police are searching for an Indonesian man of Chinese descent, identified as 32-year-old Marsono Marsiti, a watch store attendant, for his alleged role in the theft of 50 expensive wristwatches worth over Rp 3 billion (US$1.35 million) from a store in Ratu Plaza.
City Police spokesman Lt. Col Bambang Haryoko called on citizens to immediately report to the police any information on the whereabouts of the man, who was an employee of Sarida International Watches. He said Marsono, who stole the watches on Monday, left his wife alone at their house in Bekasi.
"So far we have not found any clues as to the hideout of Marsono," Bambang said on Thursday.
Erwin, manager of the watch store located in the Ratu Plaza shopping center in South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post that he has already asked Marsono's wife at the Wisma Asri housing complex in Teluk Pucang, Bekasi, about the whereabouts of her husband.
"She told me several times that she has no idea where her husband is," said Erwin.
Based on Erwin's reports to the city police, Marsono, who had worked at the store for about one-and-a-half years, removed the wristwatches from the store under the approval of Erwin, saying that a customer at a nearby bank wanted to see and buy the watches.
It all started at around 3 p.m. on Monday when the store received a phone call from someone, who Marsono called Joni.
Witnessed by a young female attendant, Rosdiana, Marsono then informed Erwin that Joni wanted to purchase an exclusive watch and see him along with several watches at his office somewhere near the Panin Bank building office.
Marsono then left carrying around 50 of the store's most expensive wristwatches, including makes by Rolex, Audemars Piguet or AP, Brietling, Piaget, Patek Phillipe, Chopard, Baume & Mercier and Vacheron Constantin.
"The lowest priced wristwatch is around Rp 10 million while the highest priced is over Rp 1 billion," Erwin said.
Police sources believe that Marsono is working for a syndicate dealing in similar kinds of wristwatches, which are stolen and then sold to passengers on vessels where there are gambling sites. (bsr)