Robberies that were never solved

Robberies that were never solved

From Kompas

The Horticulture Research Center of Lembang, under the
supervision of the Agriculture Research and Development Center on
Jl. Tangkubanperahu No. 517 in Lembang, Bandung, West Java (now
known as the Research Center of Vegetables) has, since 1992, been
regularly broken into at night. The incidents, like clockwork,
have taken place every six months.

The thieves usually went after computers, electronic equipment
and cash. The police have, for the umpteenth time, registered the
stolen items, an act that will, undoubtedly, not produce results.

In this year alone, there were two similar break-ins on May
28. Computers and a sum of Rp 15 million vanished without a
trace.

About a month later, a similar incident occurred at the
Segunung installation office in Cianjur under the same modus
operandi (the installation office was part of the Lembang
Horticulture section before).

At the time, the respective office personnel were quite sure
that the police would not be able to solve this crime. Their
doubts became a certainty on Oct. 20 at midnight, when all the
security guards were found tied up.

The thieves had a field day when they broke into all the
rooms, cupboards and the office safe. There were about 11 office
workers there at the time.

All of the equipment from the research center, which is
government property, was loaded into a van parked in the office
pool. The office personnel have grown pessimistic once more about
the inability of the police to solve the robbery. Worse still,
since the thieves seemed to have prior knowledge about the
institute's assets.

Should the research equipment, which is government property,
all be stolen before the thieves are found? We appeal to the
authorities for protection of the respective government assets,
and the prevention of repeat break-ins.

Name and address

known to the editor