Pickpockets between Pulogadung and Bekasi

Pickpockets between Pulogadung and Bekasi

From Pelita

The Pulogadung-Bekasi bus route is rife with pickpockets these days, brazenly operating on public vehicles without showing any remorse. They usually act in groups of four or five to Bekasi, Karawang, Cikampek and Purwakarta.

Pickpockets are most commonly found boarding a bus outside the Pulogadung terminal. Their choice is always a bus packed with passengers. They aim to distract the passengers by creating a commotion, pushing and shoving people around them. When the bus speeds away, the victims are sandwiched momentarily, while their pockets are emptied.

The pickpockets usually do not care less if other passengers witness their crime, continuing to work on the hapless victim who is totally powerless to defend himself. If they are interrupted in their work by a passenger, they would challenge the person in a duel. In most cases, passengers opt to keep quiet or disembark immediately.

We believe that pickpockets operate in several groups. One group boards the bus at the Pulogadung terminal, then gets off before the Cakung toll gate. Here another group takes over and disembarks at Tambun in a relay-style theft. Meanwhile another group on the non-toll routes is busy intercepting a bus outside the Pulogadung terminal, then disembarks at Cacing. Another group then boards at Kranji and gets off at the Metropolitan mall near the Bekasi terminal.

We suggest that passengers from Pulogadung should be very careful if they have to travel east on a toll or non-toll road. Pickpockets are becoming quite brutal these days.

MAKRUF

Bekasi, West Java