JP/5/BANK

JP/5/BANK

Lampung Police seize part of Rp 2.7b hot money
Oyos Saroso
Bandarlampung

Lampung Police have recovered three cardboard boxes containing
money believed to have been stolen in an armed robbery in South
Lampung regency on Monday

The police also seized a Toyota van believed to have been used
by the robbers in the Rp 2.7 billion robbery (US$ 284,210), (not
Rp 2.5 billion as earlier reported by the police), which is
thought to be the biggest robbery in Lampung province.

Seven armed robbers escaped with the money from six Bank Haga
employees on Jl. Metro-Tegigeneng in South Lampung while they
were transporting it from Metro city to Bandarlampung.

The seven suspects are still at large.

Police detectives were still counting the money recovered in
the three boxes on Friday.

They also detained four people for questioning on Friday as
witnesses, said the Lampung Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr.
Bachtiar Hasanuddin Tambunan.

The four people were identified only as Is, 40, the former
wife of Jg, a suspect in the case, Da, Ags and Lil.

"Besides Is, the other three people are also acquainted with
Jg," said Brig. Gen. Primanto, the chief of the Lampung Police.

Is was picked up by police from her home in the Panjang
district of Bandarlampung on Thursday night.

When the police raided her house at 9 p.m, Is was preparing to
travel to Java.

During the raid, police officers seized a small cardboard box
containing money.

During questioning, Is told the police that Jg had visited her
earlier on Wednesday night, when he gave her the cardboard box
containing money.

Separately, another witness, Ags, a motorcycle taxi driver,
told the police that he had been hired by Jg, who was staying in
a relative's house in South Lampung, to take him to Is' house in
Bandarlampung on Wednesday night.

After driving Jg to Is' house, Ags was then told by Jg to take
two other small cardboard boxes to a friend of Jg's in Tarahan,
South Lampung, some 25 kilometers south of Bandarlampung. During
the trip, Ags was accompanied by the teenage son of Jg.

After completing this task, Ags returned to Is' house in
Bandarlampung and collected Jg to take him to Tarahan. On the
way, however, Jg told Ags that he had decided to go by taxi
instead.

"Jg gave me Rp 100,000, and then I left him. I was surprised
that later on Thursday morning I was picked up by the police,"
said Ags.

Police then traced Jg's movements in Tarahan on Thursday, but
found nothing except Jg's son and the two boxes containing money.

Based on information from Ags, the motorcycle taxi driver, the
police detained Da, Jg's girlfriend, and Lil, a relative of Jg,
separately in South Lampung regency.

The police also found a Toyota Kijang van at Pasir Putih beach
in Bandarlampung, which they suspect was used in the robbery.

The police also held Supardi, a security guard at the bank,
for questioning.