Police confiscated 31 stolen vehicles, detective chief says

JAKARTA (JP): City police confiscated 31 stolen vehicles, mostly Kijang vans and sedans, in the period between Dec. 23 and Jan. 11, and invited city residents whose cars were missing to check them out at its headquarters on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

The city police detective chief, Col. Alex Bambang Riatmojo, told a media conference on Monday that out of the 31 confiscated vehicles, 16 were seized from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1 and the other 15 from Jan.1 to Jan. 11.

"One of the seized cars had been claimed by its owner," Alex said.

The cars, which included BMWs, two Honda Accord sedans and the newest type of Lancer sedan, were parked in front of the city police detective compound.

The newly installed colonel guaranteed that all who wanted to check the cars would be assisted by his subordinates and there would be no charge at all.

In line with the seizure, Alex disclosed that 11 men were under arrest. Six of them were believed to have been responsible for a series of car thefts in some parts of Jakarta, while the other five were believed to have been buyers of the stolen cars.

The latest operation was effected late on Saturday in a hotel in Central Jakarta, where police arrested one man and shot dead his accomplice for resisting arrest and allegedly attempting to assault officers.

The fatality in the operation was identified as Yunus, 46, a resident of Gang Muhammad Ali, Tanah Tinggi subdistrict in Central Jakarta, while his partner, identified as Salim Fahri, 32, was now detained by the city police.

Both Yunus and Salim were reportedly armed with an FN handgun, bearing a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Military Standard stamp and a knife in their criminal practices.

From the two police confiscated a silver Kijang van with license plate B 7104 DJ, which according to Salim's preliminary confession was stolen from a parking lot near a school in Pulo Mas in East Jakarta.

On Saturday the van was offered at Rp 35 million (US$4,375) to a visitor at the Cempaka Hotel before police nailed them.

To reporters, the detained Salim, however, pleaded that the theft was his first experience of crime.

"I never stole anything before. This was my first experience,"

When asked where he got the handgun, he claimed that he was only asked to accompany Yunus in late November to meet his friend, identified as Ochan, at a Sundanese restaurant in Cihampelas, West Java.

"Yunus handed over Rp 600,000 in cash to Ochan, who then gave him the gun," Salim said.

There were two bullets in the gun and Salim claimed they had never fired any shots since they had bought it.

"When we stole the Kijang van, we only aimed the gun at his head and forced him to get into the car," he said, adding that the car owner was then abandoned in the Sunter area of North Jakarta. (emf)