Johar Baru Residents Unite to Tackle Knife-Wielding Motorcycle Thieves

JAKARTA — Two knife-wielding motorcycle thieves were chased down and detained by residents in Johar Baru, Central Jakarta, in a video that went viral on social media on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.

In footage posted by the Instagram account @dashcamindonesia, two men were initially seen on a black motorcycle in front of a house. A man wearing a white T-shirt then ran from a house opposite. The man in white pushed the man on the black-and-white jacket toward the fence and struck him with a small green object.

Another man emerged from the same house and approached the man wearing the green jacket, who was taking a motorcycle out from the porch. The man in white attacked again and kicked the man in the green jacket. The man in the green jacket briefly resisted before eventually running away, pursued by residents.

A woman then joined the scene to help the man in white restrain the man wearing the black jacket. The black-jacketed man fled in the opposite direction and was chased by residents. Several other residents poured out of their homes to join the pursuit.

According to the footage posted by @dashcamindonesia, the two men being chased were motor theft suspects armed with knives. They were eventually captured by residents.

Johar Baru Police Sector Chief, Kompol Saiful Anwar, confirmed the incident. The event occurred on Monday, 2 March 2026, at around 16:10 WIB.