Luxury cars taken from police HQ

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: Brig. Gen. Farouk Muhamad, chief of the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Police, was angered by the disappearance of three luxury cars seized from an East Timor businessman several months ago.

"I have no idea about how the cars, famous makes like Land Cruiser and Mercedez Benz, could have been stolen from the provincial police headquarters. I want the cars returned soon because they are still the subject of a police investigation," he said here on Tuesday.

He warned that any police officers who were subsequently found to have been directly or indirectly involved in the disappearances would certainly be punished.

Reliable sources said that certain parties at police headquarters were trying to take financial advantage of Farouk's impending transfer by allowing the owner to take the cars from the police headquarters to be repaired. They said two cars had been sent to Surabaya in East Java.

Farouk is due to be installed as new chief of the Maluku Provincial Police. -- Antara