One thousand ballots stolen in N. Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): A box containing 1,000 ballot papers for the June 7 general election was stolen from a truck on Thursday afternoon, an officer said over the weekend.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said the missing box was among 1,017 boxes containing ballots to be sent to the General Election Commission (KPU).

The truck reportedly had just left PT Sumber Bahagia, a printing company in the Pulogadung Industrial area, East Jakarta, and the missing box was only noticed by the truck driver on Jl. Yos Sudarso, North Jakarta.

"At a traffic light on Jl. Yos Sudarso, the driver, Muin, was told by a taxi driver that the canvas covering the back of his truck had been torn," Lubis said.

Muin, 41, stopped the truck and examined the torn canvas. He then realized that one of the boxes had been stolen.

It is strongly believed that the suspects had torn the canvas before the truck left the printing company's area.

The driver, Lubis said, reported the theft to a nearby police station, and then, accompanied by an employee of the printing company, reported the theft to a staffer of KPU, Pandu P. Sutopo.

Lubis said the motive behind the theft was still unclear as the investigation was still underway.

"I understand the public will easily speculate that the theft was politically motivated," Lubis said. (emf)