Police stop thieves being mobbed

JAKARTA (JP): Police shot tear gas in order to save two thieves being mobbed by angry residents who caught them red- handed stealing a motor cycle on Jl. Kelapa Lilin II, Utan Kayu subdistrict, Matraman, East Jakarta on Sunday night.

The police then took the two black-and-blue thieves, 24-year old Sunardi and 21-year old Riyadi, to Matraman police station for questioning, instead of taking them to hospital.

According to Mahmud, a local resident who joined the mob, the two thieves were seen stealing a GL Max motor cycle belonging to Muhammad, 36, a resident of Duren Tiga, South Jakarta, who was visiting a relative.

Mahmud said as soon as Muhammad parked his motor cycle in front of his relative's house at about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night, the two thieves came and tried to take the motor cycle.

"One of us (local residents) saw them and shouted 'thief!' so that other residents rushed to the crime scene and immediately surrounded the thieves, who were trying to escape," he told The Jakarta Post at the crime scene on Monday.

He said residents were not satisfied by only mobbing the thieves. The residents wanted to burn them alive, but police officers from East Jakarta Police Headquarters happened to pass by.

The police quickly went to the crime scene and tried to save the thieves. But the angry residents prevented the police from taking the thieves, and that prompted the police to fire tear gas to disperse the people.

As the residents dispersed to avoid the tear gas, police officers took the thieves and handed them over to Matraman police station.(01)