Police question 12 over theft at city police HQs

JAKARTA (JP): Police are still questioning 12 people over the disappearance of Rp 217 million (US$22,842) in cash from a deposit box at the traffic police office within city police headquarters, city police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said on Saturday.

"We have yet to find out whether the theft involved insiders," Mulyono told reporters at his office.

He said the 12 suspects included police officers who were on duty when the money went missing from a box located on the second floor of the city traffic office on Thursday night.

Police discovered that the money was missing on Friday morning after seeing that a chain connecting four deposit boxes had been cut.

The thieves only managed to steal money from one box, while the remaining boxes containing approximately Rp 1 billion were unopened.

City Traffic Police chief Comr. Ucin S. said that the money in the four boxes was for the salaries of about 2,900 civilian employees and 90 police officers.

"But we will borrow from the city police cooperatives. So don't fear that the employees and officers will not receive their salaries," Ucin said on Friday.

Ucin said that he and several other employees who were still at his office at 11 p.m. on Thursday did not hear any suspicious noises from the room where the boxes are stored.

He predicted that the theft occurred at midnight because the chains were already cut when police inspected them at 6 a.m. on Friday.

He refused to speculate that the theft involved police officers or civilian employees.

"It's not my responsibility to investigate the case," Ucin said. (jun)