Police confiscated 31 stolen vehicles, detective chief says

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)