New trend in car theft discovered
New trend in car theft discovered
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Chief of the Jakarta Police Mobile Detective Unit, Comr. Tomsy
Tohir, warned the public on Monday to be careful when purchasing
used cars in the wake of the arrest of four people on suspicions
of fraud involving fake vehicle ownership certificates and
vehicle registration certificates.
"If people want to buy used cars, it would be advisable to
check the papers first with the vehicle document service office.
Don't pay for the car before checking," said Tomsy.
He also warned the public not to carry out vehicle purchase
transactions on weekends or holidays because car thieves knew
buyers could not check the validity of documents as the office
would be closed.
Police said they had arrested four suspects identified only by
their initials as IYN, YS, BS, and AS last week. The first three
were arrested on Jl. Pegangsaan in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta,
and in Tangerang, on their way to an automotive showroom in
Kalimalang, East Jakarta, while the fourth was arrested at the
showroom.
They were going to the Kalimalang showroom to sell cars they
had gotten as trade-ins for stolen vehicles they had sold with
falsified documents. By selling the trade-ins immediately without
transferring the ownership, they could cover their tracks and
make it difficult to trace their whereabouts.
The four suspects have been charged with falsifying legal
documents. "The investigation is still going on. We are still
trying to locate another suspect," said Tomsy.
Police have evidence of the suspects' involvement in six
transactions involving stolen vehicles. During interrogation,
however, the suspects confessed to having sold 26 stolen vehicles
since 2003.
Police have seized two vehicles with falsified ownership
certificates, a Suzuki Escudo and a Suzuki Carry, both 2000
models, and the two legally registered vehicles the suspects had
taken as trade-ins, a Toyota Krista and a Honda Genio. The police
also confiscated two motorcycles made in China, whose vehicle
ownership certificates had been altered and used to create fake
certificates for the stolen vehicles.
Laude, an investigating officer, said that the suspects had
changed all the data on the motorcycle ownership certificates,
except for the license plate number and the name of the owner.
The registration forms for motorcycle and car ownership
certificates are identical, so this kind of fraud is difficult
for the public to detect unless they check with the vehicle
document service office before purchasing a used vehicle.
The suspects were arrested after the previous owners of the
Toyota Krista and Honda Genio checked the certificates for the
Suzuki Escudo and the Suzuki Carry with the document service
office and discovered that they had been falsified. The car
buyers then called the police. (001)