Cloth thief jumps from third floor of Pasaraya
Cloth thief jumps from third floor of Pasaraya
JAKARTA (JP): A 20-year-old man who was apprehended on
Thursday morning by security guards after being caught stealing
clothes at the seven-story Pasaraya department store in Blok M,
South Jakarta, decided to escape by taking a free fall from the
third floor of the building.
Police said the suspected thief, Slamet Widodo, was alive but
in a comatose condition at Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat
Jati, East Jakarta.
Reporters received two versions of the capture and the
dangerous escape of Slamet.
But both versions revealed that Slamet was caught by two
security guards of the store on Wednesday afternoon for allegedly
stealing clothes from Pasaraya.
According to the police, Slamet jumped from a window on the
third floor after the two security guards, who caught the thief
on Wednesday, removed his handcuffs.
"We have questioned the security guards, Sulianto and Suroto,
as to why they did not hand the thief over to the police
immediately after they caught him stealing?
"So far, the two guards have been unable to give us straight
answers," South Jakarta Police chief of detectives Maj. Ahmad
Alwi said.
The guards, he said, only told police investigators that they
agreed to unlock Slamet's handcuffs at about 3:40 a.m. on
Thursday following a request from the suspect, who said he wanted
to see wounds on his wrists which were caused by the handcuffs.
Shortly after the guards agreed to remove the handcuffs,
Slamet ran away from the stunned pair and jumped from a window.
According to a member of staff at the store, Budi, the thief
was arrested at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday after he was found
stealing about 20 items of clothing, whose prices ranged from Rp
95,000 (US$13) to Rp 700,000, on the first floor of the store.
"The security guards then arrested him and locked the guy into
an empty room on the third floor.
"The thief jumped out of the window in that room, and
seriously injured himself," Budi told reporters.
Officer Alwi questioned why the security guards did not
immediately report the nabbing of Slamet to the police.
"The (suspected) thief was also beaten up after he was caught.
The guards should have immediately surrendered him to us shortly
after they apprehended him," he said.
A police source added that some of the store's security guards
had been known to often blackmail suspected thieves.
"For instance, if a suspect steals something worth Rp 100,000,
the guard would ask for three times the amount," the source said.
Nobody from the Pasaraya public relations department was
willing to comment on the matter. (ylt)