Phone thieves pretend to be police

JAKARTA: Three people who pretended to act as police officers hunting for a murderer stole a cellular phone from a passenger on an air-conditioned city bus on the route from Kampung Rambutan bus terminal, East Jakarta, to Senen, Central Jakarta.

The victim, Fachruddin, 34, said that the three men got into the bus on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta. They then approached him, saying that they were looking for a murderer and then searched his clothes and bag.

"After they got off at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, I checked my bag and my cellular phone had gone," said Fachruddin.

Fachruddin reported the loss to a police officer at the police post on Jl. Thamrin, close to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. But the police could only give him a copy of their report form, without trying to pursue the robbers.

"If police officers want to do something useful, maybe they could arrest pickpockets," he complained.--JP