Motorcycle theft gang nabbed

TANGERANG (JP): Four members of a motorcycle theft ring were arrested following a tip from another gang member who was in police custody.

Tangerang police detectives chief Chandra Sukma Kumara said the two were arrested at a house in the Sentul subdistrict of Balaraja on Sunday, based on information from Samsul, who had been detained a day earlier.

Samsul was handed over to the police by residents in Legok district after being mobbed for stealing a motor cycle late on Saturday.

Samsul said he and his two accomplices, Ari and Mansur, who are still at large, had stolen seven motorcycles since July 2000 and sold them to Edi Tamin at a price of between Rp 1.5 million and Rp 2 million each.

Based on Samsul's tip, police then searched a house in Sentul subdistrict and arrested Edi Tamin, 37, and three others allegedly involved in the motorcycle theft ring. Juanda and Didi, who were in the house to buy a motorcycle, were also arrested.

Edi, who was shot in the knee as he tried to escape, admitted that he had bought 18 stolen motorcycles in the last three months.

"I sold the stolen motorcycles for between Rp 2.3 million and Rp 2.5 million to ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers," he told The Jakarta Post.

Juanda and Didi said they were interested in buying the stolen vehicles from Edi because of the low prices.

"I simply want to be an ojek driver because I am unemployed," Juanda told the Post.(41)