Regent installed despite investigation

BOGOR: West Java Governor Dany Setiawan finally installed Agus Utara Effendi as Bogor regent for a second term together with Albert Pribadi as deputy regent on Monday even though Agus has been declared a suspect by the West Java Police in a bribery case involving Rp 1.2 billion (US$141,176.47).

Some political figures, including Roy BB Janis and Noviantika Nasution from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), attended the installation ceremony.

Dany told the press after the ceremony that the legal process involving Agus would still continue notwithstanding his installation as regent.

He said that he would issue a letter allowing the police to investigate the regent.

Agus allegedly bribed some Bogor regency councillors to accept his 2001 accountability report.

The West Java Police's chief of detectives, Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Nurdin, said that five councillors had admitted receiving between Rp 10 million and Rp 110 million from the regent. -- JP

;JP;DMR; ANPAj..r.. Greater-police-burglary Police identify new burglary method JP/8/GREAT1

Police identify new burglary method

JAKARTA: Police said on Monday they had identified a new modus operandi being employed by gangs of burglars following the arrest of five suspected housebreakers last week.

"The burglars pretend to be construction workers engaged on a project close to the vacant shop or house they are targeting," said the Jakarta Police's detectives chief, Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang.

The burglars, Salempang said, would then break into the vacant premises after nightfall.

Police arrested four suspected burglars -- Kartimin, 34; Agung Laksono, 25; Pujianto, 26; and Warsidi, 39 -- last week in Muara Karang, North Jakarta.

The suspects told police investigators that they had been burgling premises using this particular modus operandi since 2001. Among their successful operations had been the theft of Rp 30 million (US$3,530) in cash from a money changer in Blok M, South Jakarta, in 2001, and of two kilograms of gold and Rp 10 million in cash from a vacant shophouse on Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta, Central Jakarta, in 2002.

Police have identified three gangs of burglars who employ this method. These are known by police detectives as the Pluit, Karanganyar and Kranji gangs.

"We are still hunting the gang members," said Salempang. -- JP