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)