Police plan to tighten security for freight
Police plan to tighten security for freight
JAKARTA (JP): In response to businesspeople's complaints about
the increasing incidence of truck robberies and thefts, the
police are moving to tighten security in areas prone to such
crime.
City Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said yesterday
that certain highways around Jakarta down to Cilegon in West Java
were being put under 24-hour surveillance.
Police officers have also been deployed along the toll road
connecting Jakarta and the West Java towns of Cikampek, Bogor and
Ciawi, which are the main land transport arteries for exported
goods, he said.
To make the security measures more effective, the police are
also coordinating with company owners in industrial estates
across Greater Jakarta, the police chief said.
Noegroho rejected accusations that the police were not
responsive to complaints on the increasing theft of trucks and
containers heading for Tanjung Priok harbor in Jakarta.
"We guarantee that all reports about robberies involving
thefts will be responded to and investigated," he told reporters.
The Association of Indonesian Retailers referred the robbery
problem to President B.J. Habibie on Thursday during a meeting in
which they called for the Armed Forces to pay more attention to
the issue.
West Java Police reported Thursday that they had received 52
reports of container robberies. The highwaymen reportedly robbed
containers filled with goods bound for export through Tanjung
Priok.
Noegroho said that in May and June, the Jakarta Police
recorded 26 crimes involving trucks in Greater Jakarta -- of
those 11 occurred in May and 15 in June.
Most happened on busy highways leading to Tanjung Priok, such
as those in the northern coastal areas, he said.
The thieves reportedly threatened truck drivers with sharp
weapons or guns when they hijacked the vehicles.
So far the police have caught at least 15 people suspected of
truck robberies during the routine Operasi Kilat Jaya.
"Last night we captured five of them," Noegroho said, adding
that the suspects were all armed and dangerous.
"Some of them admitted to having done a series of truck
robberies. They are all under investigation now."
'Semprul'
The five men, thought to be members of a truck robbery gang
known as Kelompok Semprul after the leader's name, were caught
red-handed on the Cikampek toll road near Pondok Gede, Bekasi,
trying to hijack a truck.
They were identified as Semprul, Iman Santoso, Muhammad
Bachtiar, Joko and Tarmizi.
"They were in a Kijang van which was used to chase a truck
carrying garments," Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, city police spokesman,
said.
Another gang was nabbed Thursday at Jl. Raya Lemah Abang,
Bekasi, in which police arrested three suspects, Ridwan bin
Soleh, Nursidik and Ali Palau.
"They admitted to have also operated in Karawang and Subang
(West Java)," Aritonang said, adding that a Mitsubishi minibus
and five sharp weapons were seized as evidence.
The third gang was captured Wednesday when Bekasi Police
arrested four alleged truck robbers, Lukman, Muhadi, Asep bin
Atam and Ali Umar.
"They have been on the police most wanted list for about a
year. And we captured them driving a truck carrying two tons of
yarn," Aritonang said.
In the most recent incident, one of the criminals posed as a
truck driver who was pretending to have been robbed on the
Cikampek toll road in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The driver, Sardi SR, 37, reported to the police that his
truck was hijacked.
"But then when the police questioned him, it turned out that
he was lying and actually his friends were the ones who took the
truck away. The other suspects are still at large," he
added. (edt)