Illegal taxi drivers, scalpers netted

Illegal taxi drivers, scalpers netted

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): A team of military, police and the local administration's public order officials netted 35 illegal taxi drivers and four air ticket scalpers at the Soekarno-Hatta airport yesterday.

The operation, which caught the drivers and scalpers off guard, was carried out at noon and involved 50 personnel.

Chief of staff of the Tangerang military district Major Mulyo Wahono said the raid was held after a rash of complaints about the illegal taxi drivers' and air ticket scalpers' activities.

"In their operation the drivers asked would be passengers to get into their cars without telling them the fare they had to pay Only after a few kilometers did the drivers tell the passengers the fare which was exorbitant, far more expensive than the normal fare. This is tantamount to blatant extortion, blackmail," Mulyo said.

He said to take their passengers from the airport to Cianjur, some 130 km away, the drivers charged the passengers Rp 300,000.

"This is outrageous. The normal taxi fare for such a distance is only Rp 100,000 if one uses a taxi officially sanctioned by the airport authority, like Blue Bird," he said. (28/bas)