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