Midday heist nets Rp 79.2m

JAKARTA (JP): Four robbers aboard two motorcycles made off with Rp 79.2 million (US$11,500) in a midday robbery on the busy Jl. Sahardjo in South Jakarta on Friday.

Police identified the victim as Ani Andari, 36, an employee of PT Danakaya Sentra Makmur, a marine surveying services company.

"The robbery took place at 12:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the BCA (Bank Central Asia) branch office on Jl. Sahardjo," the police report stated.

As of Friday night, the South Jakarta Police had yet to announce whether they had apprehended any of the four robbers, believed to have been driving Yamaha RX King motorcycles.

According to the police report, Ani suffered light bruises after attempting to wrest the envelope containing the money from the thieves.

The victim could not be reached to discuss the robbery, while the police report gave no further details of the incident.

The report simply stated that Ani was exiting her car when one of the robbers threatened her with a sickle and demanded she hand over the envelope.

One of the victim's colleagues, Nining, said Ani, who is in charge of the company's accounts payable, went to the bank with the company's driver, Sukiman, to pay the company's bills, taxes and salaries.

"Ani is usually accompanied by at least three of our staff members when dealing with a large amount of money," Nining said.

She said she did not know why Ani was only accompanied by Sukiman on Friday.

Nining said Ani first withdrew the money in US dollars from Standard Chartered Bank on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta.

"She then converted the money into rupiah at a money changer before heading to the BCA," Nining said.

The incident on Friday was the second major robbery of a bank customer in the past two days.

A similar robbery occurred on Thursday on Jl. Tirtayasa, also in South Jakarta.

The victim, Fabio Bellini, 39, was attacked by two men -- also driving Yamaha RX King motorcycles -- in the garage of his house. The thieves made off with Rp 47 million in cash.

Fabio had just withdrawn the money from a Citibank branch in Pondok Indah.

The victim suffered slash wounds to his forehead, neck and left hand.

He was rushed to Pertamina Hospital and released later the same day. (05)