Police arrest suspects in pawnshop theft

JAKARTA (JP): Detectives from the South Jakarta Police arrested three of the seven suspects in the robbery of the branch office of state-owned Perum Pegadaian pawnshop, in which the thieves made off with Rp 8 billion (US$1 million) in jewelry.

Chief of detectives Capt. Rycko Amelza Daniel said on Saturday the police also seized from two of the detained suspects some 4.5 kilograms of stolen gold and diamonds.

He identified the three detained suspects as Rismad, Usup Syarifuddin and Jaka.

The three were apprehended in separate raids early last week, the officer said.

"First we retrieved 2.5 kilograms of gold and diamonds from Rismad's home in Parung, Bogor," Rycko told The Jakarta Post.

Rismadi then led police to Usup in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, the officer said.

After being handcuffed, Usup took officers to his remaining share of the robbery, two kilograms of gold and diamonds he had hidden under his house in Garut, West Java, the officer said.

"Usup then told us about Jaka, who lives in Parung. Jaka says that he left his share of the robbery somewhere in a stolen car, which is already gone. Of course, he is lying. We hope that we'll retrieve the stolen goods soon," he said.

Rycko said Rismad was the one who used the electric drill to open the steel gates of the pawnshop.

"We are still after the other four gang members, including the pawnshop's security guard, Dadi Mulyadi, who cooperated with the robbers," he said.

The pawnshop's branch office on Jl. Wijaya in South Jakarta was robbed on Sept. 12.

The company's director of operations, Dedi Kusdedi, said the stolen jewelry, comprising mostly gold and diamonds, was pawned by over 3,000 customers.

Soon after the theft, the South Jakarta Police named Dadi as the main suspect in the case. When police went to his residence, they discovered that Dadi and his wife and children had vacated their house. Dadi's whereabouts remain unknown.

"We questioned his elder brother, Makmur, who we believed loaned Dadi his motorcycle for the robbery. But Makmur insisted that he had not seen Dadi for two weeks (before the robbery)," Rycko said. (ylt)