Diplomat's house burglarized

JAKARTA (JP): Thieves are believed to have collaborated with a housemaid who ran away with electronic goods, expensive clothing and household appliances worth Rp 18 million from a diplomat's house, police said Wednesday.

Leonardo Dos Reis, who will assume his new post as political bureau chief at Indonesia's embassy in Brazil next month, and his wife, Denok Darwanti, were on the way to the railway station for a planned trip to Yogyakarta on May 7 when the thieves struck.

The maid, Darmini, 19, was home alone when thieves cleaned out the house in the posh Bukit Raflesia, Cibubur, area of East Jakarta. The maid was hired from an agent three days earlier.

Police detective Sergeant Major Mathias of the Cimanggis police precinct said Wednesday the authorities were still in the dark about the maid's whereabouts.

"We know the maid's agent and some of the maid's buddies but we cannot arrest without hard evidence," he told The Jakarta Post. "The agent is illegal and did not know her well enough because she was picked up in the street."

Denok said that at the time of the burglary, neighbors saw several people come to her house by taxi at about 2 p.m. The passengers were seen loading things into the car parked in her garage.

"On that unlucky day, my husband and I returned home because the train to Yogyakarta was canceled only to find my house properly locked. We were shocked on finding it almost empty," she said.

She said she was dismayed by the police's inability to solve the case although they have the name of the maid's agent and friends. (pan)