Police perplexed over big robbery

Police perplexed over big robbery

JAKARTA (JP): North Jakarta police were confused yesterday
when a man, claiming to have been robbed of US$70,000 and Rp 125
million by two armed men, refused to reveal the complete story
and gave conflicting statements.

"This is my own money. It is my right whether I report the
incident to the police or not," North Jakarta Police chief Maj.
Heru quoted the man, identified as Yoseph T., 41, as saying.

Speaking with The Jakarta Post yesterday, Heru said that
Yoseph, a foreign exchange trader, earlier told the police that
while carrying the cash in his Vitara car along Jl. Danau Sunter
Selatan on Friday, he was mugged by two men.

The alleged robbery came to the attention of police due to a
call from a receptionist at the Griya Medika Sunter hospital,
where Yoseph was being treated, Heru said.

Police then arrived and took details from the victim, who told
police that he had just taken the Rp 125 million from the Kelapa
Gadding BCA Bank branch when two men, riding an RX King
motorcycle, hit the left side of his car and forced Yoseph to
stop.

One man pretended to be injured and asked to be taken to the
hospital, Heru quoted Yoseph as saying.

"But then the two men mugged Yoseph, who was driving alone and
sitting on all the money, and slashed his stomach with a knife.
The two escaped with the money after firing a shot in the air,"
Yoseph told the police.

However, Yoseph refused to officially file the robbery with
the police so that the police could carry out their
investigations, Heru said.

While examining the crime scene, detectives also found some
conflicting facts about Yoseph's story.

"We learned that the street was packed with various activities
around the time of the incident described by Yoseph," Heru said.

"The robbery was said to occur in front of the Ades mineral
water company. But we found nobody that had heard anything or saw
anything around the time of the incident," he said.

Yoseph also rebutted his early remarks, saying that he never
stopped at any BCA branch but had brought the money from his
home, Heru said.

Heru said that in an attempt to capture the suspects, his men
would keep investigating the robbery to find out the truth of
Yoseph's story.

"So, let's keep an open mind about this," he said. (edt)