Police close to arrest Glodok stores' thieves

Police close to arrest Glodok stores' thieves

JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta police are close to arresting the
bandits who robbed three shops and made off with Rp 66.6 million
(US$30,000) in the Glodok business center, downtown Kota, last
month.

The police said they already had the names of all seven
suspects and know their whereabouts.

"Some of the group are repeat offenders," chief of the West
Jakarta police precinct, Lt. Col. Made Mangku Pastika, told the
Jakarta Post last week.

According to Made, most of the suspected thieves are currently
hiding "somewhere" in East Java.

"My agents are still monitoring their movements and we hope
that this operation can be carried out as expected," he said.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the gangsters
dug an underground tunnel about seven meters in length from Jl.
Mangga Besar I to get into the first machine equipment store, PT
Bukit Baja, which they robbed during the early hours of June 17.

Officers of the Taman Sari police sub-precinct have been
quoted as saying that the group then extended their operation to
the adjacent stores by climbing through the ceiling.

Police found a hole with a diameter of 1.5 meters in the floor
of PT Bukit Baja, two crowbars, a pair of sandals, empty packets
of instant noodles and two glasses at the three scenes of crimes.

Owner of PT Bukit Baja claimed that he had suffered a loss
cash and property amounting to Rp 5.6 million in the robbery,
including a 14-inch television set, a video cassette recorder set
and cash.

"Fortunately, the group didn't open another safe in my working
room which had Rp 100 million cash in it," said Hargo, 35, the
owner.

PT Perintis Logam claimed a loss of Rp 400,000 in cash while
PT Sumber Makmur claimed a loss of Rp 60.5 million, also cash.

The owners said that the money was kept in safes.

"We'll do our best to nab all the suspects and seek enough
evidence to bring them to court as soon as possible," Made said.
(bsr)