Repair shop owner arrested

Repair shop owner arrested

TANGERANG: A Cipondoh repair shop owner, who allegedly made off
with more than Rp 400 million in cash and vehicles belonging to a
judge, a lawyer and a journalist, was arrested by police in Lemah
Abang, Bekasi on Monday.

The suspect, Bambang Hermawan, 49, was arrested by police
after they were notified of his whereabouts by one of the
suspect's victims, Silvester Djuma, a former judge at Tangerang
district court who later moved to the Central Jakarta District
Court.

Silvester said he spotted Bambang, who had changed his name to
Agustinus Wiratmo, driving through the Kebon Jeruk toll gate on
Monday morning and immediately asked his driver to follow him
while he contacted the city police.

Realizing that he was being followed, the suspect accelerated
to 160 kilometers per hour, but a group of police officers were
waiting for him at the Cikarang toll gate.

Silvester said the suspect opened Makmur Motors, a car repair
shop on Jl. KH. Hasym Ashari in Cipondoh in 1999. Besides
repairing cars, he also bought and sold used vehicles.

Silvester asked the suspect to sell four of his used Kijang
minivans, worth about Rp 300 million, but Silvester never
received the money for them.

Meanwhile, Johny Purba, a lawyer in Tangerang, said he gave
the suspect some Rp 126 million as a down payment for a Kuda
minivan, but he did not receive the vehicle.

The other victim, Luster P. Siregar, a journalist, said he
gave the suspect Rp 3.5 million to repair the body of his
Peugeot, but he never got his car back. --JP