Four arrested for pager program thefts

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested, over the past week, four members of a gang suspected of having stolen Indopage and Starpage pager programs.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro told reporters yesterday that the four arrested suspects are identified as Alex, Rudi, Suherman, and Didi.

"Another four are still at large," Bambang said.

The suspects, Bambang said, have stolen certain programs, including foreign exchange programs carried by Starpage, and Indopage world soccer game programs.

The suspects blocked passive radio pagers and reactivated them by filling in those programs. They sold the reprogrammed radio pagers at Rp 200,000 (US$90.9) to Rp 300,000 each. The buyers never paid monthly fees, Bambang said.

"If the programs are taken from a new radio pager, they sell them at Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000 each," Bambang said.

The suspects, who are reported to have been operating since last year, received at least Rp 150,000 for each radio pager sold.

"Police assume that they have sold hundreds of radio pagers," Bambang said.

The duped companies includes PT Indo Karisma Wirasatria, which operates Indopage, and PT Duta Pertiwi Santosa for Starpage.

Both companies bought the programs from the Antara and Reuter news agencies.

"Normally, to get such programs, a costumer has to pay Rp 1.54 million, including a yearly fee. After one year, the customer has to pay monthly fees amounting to Rp 300,000 for foreign exchange programs and Rp 70,000 for soccer game results.

Police confiscated three radio pagers without serial numbers, two computers and two sets of programmers.

Bambang said two suspects, Didi and Suherman, worked for Starpage, while the other two, Alex and Rudi, who also used to work for Starpage, had moved to Globalpage.

"Alex, who is the programmer in the gang's operations, used to be a Starpage technician," Bambang said.

Rudi and Suherman played the role of distributors and sales persons, while Didi and the other four provided the components.

"Police got reports from the companies and apprehended the suspects at their offices," Bambang said. He did not reveal the amount of money the companies have lost. (01)