Police seize 502 video recorders, arrest two

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police detectives on Tuesday arrested two suspected thieves and confiscated 502 video recorders worth Rp 1 billion (US$142,857) from a warehouse in Penggilingan, North Jakarta.

"All of the video recorders were stolen in October from a warehouse in Cikarang, Bekasi," chief of the city police detectives subdivision Capt. Riad said on Wednesday.

He said the main suspect, Hendrik, was arrested at his rented home in Sintung Jaya subdistrict, Balaraja, Tangerang regency, at 11 p.m. on Tuesday.

Police did not give clear details of the second suspect Laksono and the nature of his arrest, dismissing him as a "small fry".

"The recorders all belong to PT Samsung. The company meant to export these goods overseas, via Tanjung Priok seaport," Riad told reporters at the city police headquarters.

The recorders were stolen by suspect Ade, a worker at the warehouse in Cikarang, and sold on to Hendrik. Ade is still at large. Hendrik had wanted to sell the goods abroad.

"Hendrik admitted that on Oct. 15 he received the goods from Ade at a warehouse in Kapuk Kamal, North Jakarta. Ade had shifted the goods from Cikarang to Kapuk Kamal," Riad said.

"Hendrik paid Ade a down payment of Rp 30 million (US$4,285) for the goods, and about Rp 2 million each to his middlemen Laksono, Didik and Maman. Didik and Maman are still at large, like Ade."

Riad said since the police report was made in mid-October, detectives have been fooled at least twice -- when the goods were shifted from Kapuk Kamal to another area in North Jakarta, until they found them in Penggilingan. Penggilingan lies in the border area of North and East Jakarta.

"We had almost lost hope, until we found the goods at Penggilingan, which led us to Hendrik in Balaraja," he said. (ylt)