Police bust gangs suspected of stealing export products
Police bust gangs suspected of stealing export products
JAKARTA (JP): Police over the past two weeks have arrested
members from two gangs suspected of having stolen over US$1.5
million in local company products bound for export.
The head of Jakarta Police Criminal Investigation Department,
Col. Nurfaizi, said yesterday that the police arrested seven
members belonging to the Rasihan gang and four from the Khadim
gang. The gangs, named after their leaders, were caught in
Jakarta and Bekasi.
According to Nurfaizi the pursuit took two weeks and was
carried out by special police units known as Gegana.
The aggrieved companies included PT Jabatex, PT Nova Jaya
Packing and Sea Land Service Inc.
All the companies export their products to the United States
and European countries, including Italy, the Netherlands and the
United Kingdom, Nurfaizi said.
According to Nurfaizi, the gangs generally conducted their
operations when the truck traffic into the Tanjung Priok port was
heavy.
"At least 3,000 trucks come and go from Tanjung Priok port
every day," he said.
Consequently, Nurfaizi assured, the areas in and around the
port where the congestion occurs will be better managed in the
coming days.
"The traffic jams are also part of the system. We also will
look into this problem," he said.
The theft unit chief of the Jakarta city police, Capt. Carlo
Thewu, explained that one of the targets of the Rasihan gang was
PT Jabatex. With the assistance of paid-off container truck
drivers, the gang operates by diverting the trucks into a
warehouse before sending them back on their way to the port.
The Rasihan gang operates at the CMC warehouse in West Ancol
and in another warehouse in Sunter Podomoro, North Jakarta.
Brains
Nurfaizi said the brains behind the gang was Rasihan, who also
enlisted the help of the warehouse's security guards.
The Khadim gang ripped off PT Dunia Ekspres and PT Panca
Motor.
"The Khadim gang often operated in the TSA warehouse located
on Jl. Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta.
The head of the City Police General Crimes Directorate Lt.
Col. Gories Mere said a smooth system of cooperation facilitated
the operations.
"There is an intellectual mastermind, the drivers of the
container trucks and the warehouse security guards. There is also
the group which provides trucks to transport the stolen goods and
the fence who handles the stolen goods," Gories said.
Sisilia Lilis, the shipping section chief of PT Jabatex, a
garment exporter, told The Jakarta Post that the company has lost
at least US$200,000 in five export shipments to Europe and the
U.S. since May this year.
The first time the company noticed that their export goods
were being stolen was in May, during a shipment to the UK.
"We exported 516 cartons of garments valued at US$139,000 but
our buyer complained that 176 cartoon were lost, which had a
value of US$49,000," she said.
Because the container's seal was unbroken, Sisilia said, the
importer took their complaint to PT Jabatex.
Meanwhile, David Pawlan, a buyer consolidator from Sea Land
Service Inc, a U.S.-based exporting company, said his company had
suffered at least US$1.5 million in losses since June this year.
He said he learned of the losses from his company's clients
abroad.
"We reported the case to the police when in one particular
case we lost too much, a month ago," he said.
He added that his company experienced the same kind of thefts
in Taiwan and Guatemala. (01)