Man nabbed over theft of train signal cables

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of train passengers, mostly commuters, were stranded for hours on Monday after three men cut and stole signal transmission cables spanning between the Gondangdia railway station and the Cikini railway station.

Police managed to capture one of the thieves, identified as Decruise, 27, while his two partners remain at large. The suspect is being detained at the Central Jakarta Police for questioning.

The absence of the cables kept train signal on red, preventing at least 75 electric and intercity trains from moving.

The cables, which were planted in an underground concrete case, were stolen from three locations between the two stations, which are less than two kilometers apart, but spokesman for the state railway company PT KAI Zainal Abidin said the effect was far more extensive.

"The cutting of the transmission cables caused havoc for four hours. At least 5 kilometers of railway tracks were lined with trains back-to-back, between the Manggarai railway station and the Tanjung Barat railway station, which covers about 15 km. Some 75 trains were stuck that way," Zainal told The Jakarta Post.

He added that the value of the cables in terms of money was only Rp 15 million, but their absence caused PT KAI staffers "a lot of headache."

"All the tracks in the Manggarai railway station were jam- packed with trains ... the havoc began at 4 a.m. when the incident happened, and ended at 10 a.m., when we managed to fix temporary signal cables in place of the stolen parts."

He added that the signal box was also damaged.

Yoyol confirmed that Decruise and his gang cut the cables at about 4 a.m. on Monday, and sold them off.

"But there are many possibilities (for the motive). We are still investigating the case," Yoyol told reporters at Central Jakarta Police.

"This man is not a city resident ... he says he keeps moving from one place to another. He does not have any ID card either."

Zainal smelled sabotage in the incident.

"PT KAI sees this incident as a possible act of sabotage ... what else could it be? We have conveyed our suspicions to police officers and they are investigating the possibility," Zainal said.

Aside from Monday's incident, the railway company still has two unresolved incidents: the planting of three live grenades on railroad tracks in Lemah Abang, Bekasi early in January, and the bombing of a railway bridge over Cisedane river in Serpong, Banten last month.

No fatalities were resulted in the two incidents.

Minister of Transportation and Telecommunication Agum Gumelar said after the bombing in Serpong that security measures would be stepped up along railway tracks. (ylt)