Garuda still using baggage firm despite press barrage
Garuda still using baggage firm despite press barrage
JAKARTA (JP): Garuda Airlines is unlikely to terminate its
contract with the company entrusted with baggage handling at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport despite allegations
employees have been rifling passenger's bags.
The company, PT Jakadara, is the sole firm entrusted with
moving baggage from planes' storage sections to the luggage
retrieval belts at the airport.
A top Garuda Airlines official, who asked not to be named,
told The Jakarta Post Tuesday that the company was concerned at
the newspaper reports on the involvement of PT Jakadara employees
in the theft.
However, the official said that the airline will not revoke
its contract with the service firm in the near future.
"There are some provisions in the contract forbidding us to
unilaterally terminate it," he said.
The official would not give details of those provisions.
Garuda Airlines, along with other airlines, have employed PT
Jakadara to handle their clients' cargo and the aircraft cleaning
at the airport for years.
The official said thus far the airline company has not
received complaints of theft from passengers.
"True, we often receive reports on missing baggage. But, in
fact, it is not stolen but misplaced instead," the official said.
PT Jakadara's management is refusing to comment on the
allegations of theft.
Neneng, a secretary for the company, said, "All directors are
outside the office."
Police announced on Monday that they had arrested six
employees of PT Jakadara for alleged baggage theft at the
airport.
The suspects
The suspects were identified as Ramli, 29, a resident of Duri
Kosambi, West Jakarta; Waludin, 28, a resident of Jatinegara,
East Jakarta; Sudjimin, 27, a resident of Cilandak, South
Jakarta; Deden Jaelani, 21, a resident of Pengadegan, South
Jakarta; Firdaus, 25, and Eddy Mulyadi, 20. The addresses of the
latter were not disclosed.
Aside from the six, the police have also arrested the two
fences who allegedly bought the stolen goods. The fences were
identified as Tjong Po Sie, alias David, 34, a resident of Jl.
Raya Kedoya, West Jakarta, and Ricky Viktor Liem, 25, a resident
of Taman Dutamas, West Jakarta.
Police investigated the thefts after receiving reports from
Merpati airlines, which also hires the baggage handling firm.
Merpati complained that two of its customers, Mrs. Siregar and
Mrs. Sahra, had the contents of their baggage, including jewelry,
stolen at the airport in the middle of July.
The thefts occurred between the unloading process and the
transferring of the baggage via vehicles to the baggage retrieval
room. (jsk)