Part of Rp 2.7b recovered

Oyos Saroso , Bandarlampung

Lampung Police have recovered three cardboard boxes believed to contain some the money stolen in an armed robbery in South Lampung regency on Monday, and arrested four people.

The police also seized a Toyota van believed to have been used by the band of armed robbers in the Rp 2.7 billion robbery (US$ 284,210), (not Rp 2.5 billion as earlier reported by the police), which has been dubbed the biggest ever robbery in Lampung province. However, the seven suspects in the case are still at large.

There were no new developments in the case on Friday, and police detectives were still counting the money.

They were also continuing to question four people on Friday as witnesses, said the Lampung Provincial Police's chief of detectives, Sr. Comr. Bachtiar Hasanuddin Tambunan.

The four people helping the police with their inquiries were Is, 40, the former wife of Jg, one of the suspects in the case who is still at large, Da, Ags and Lil.

"Besides Is, the other three persons are also acquainted with Jg," said Brig. Gen. Primanto, the chief of the Lampung Provincial Police.

Is was picked up by police from her home in the Panjang district of Bandarlampung on Thursday night.

When the police raided her house at 9 p.m, Is was preparing to travel to Java.

During the raid, police officers seized a small cardboard box containing money.

During questioning, Is told the police that suspect Jg had visited her earlier on Wednesday night, when he gave her the cardboard box containing money.

Separately, another witness, Ags, a motorcycle taxi driver, told the police that he had been hired by Jg, who was staying in a relative's house in South Lampung, to bring him to Is' house in Bandarlampung on Wednesday night.

After driving Jg to Is' house, Ags was then told by Jg to bring two other small cardboard boxes to a friend of Jg's in Tarahan, South Lampung, some 25 kilometers south of Bandarlampung. During the trip, Ags was accompanied by the teenage son of Jg.

After completing this task, Ags returned to Is' house in Bandarlampung and collected Jg to bring him to Tarahan. On the way, however, Jg told Ags that he had decided to go by taxi instead.

"Jg gave me Rp 100,000, and then I left him. I was surprised that later on Thursday morning I was picked up by the police," said Ags.

Police then traced Jg's movements in Tarahan on Thursday, but found nothing except Jg's son and the two boxes containing money.

Based on information from Ags, the motorcycle taxi driver, the police detained Da, Jg's girlfriend, and Lil, a relative of Jg, separately in South Lampung regency.

The police also found a Toyota Kijang van at Pasir Putih beach in Bandarlampung, which they suspect was used in the robbery.

The police also held Supardi, a security guard at the bank, for questioning.

The seven armed robbers escaped with the money from six Bank Haga employees on Jl. Metro-Tegigeneng in South Lampung while they were transporting it from Metro city to Bandarlampung.