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.