Claim your stolen car

JAKARTA (JP): City police are currently displaying 22 stolen vehicles confiscated from seven car stealing gangs in the past two weeks and have invited Jakartans whose cars have been stolen to examine them.

According to detective chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, the stolen vehicles include 12 Toyota Kijang vans, a Toyota Corolla sedan, a light brown Land Cruiser jeep, two Great Corolla sedans, a BMW sedan, a Timor sedan, an E 320 Mercedes Benz sedan, a Mitsubishi Lancer sedan and a Feroza jeep.

Like many other auto thefts, the seven gangs used duplicate keys and letter T keys in their operation. The gangs often worked in conjunction with the employed drivers of the cars who would often leave the vehicle in a predesignated spot for it to be stolen by the gangs. The drivers would then report the apparent theft to the vehicle's owners, Bambang said.

The seven gangs were made up of 17 suspects, nine of whom are still at large.

Bambang called on residents whose vehicles had been stolen to visit the Jakarta Metropolitan Police headquarters on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

He suggested anyone who spots their missing car should go directly to the vehicle theft unit for further clearance to avoid having to deal with brokers. (emf)