Rp 38.5 million lost in car theft

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Robbers made off with Rp 38.5 million left in a bag in a parked car here on Tuesday.

Palu police chief Adj. Snr. Comm. Sudargo on Wednesday confirmed that the victim of the robbery, R. Ali, had filed a report with the police about the incident.

According to the police report Ali had withdrawn the money on Tuesday from a Bank Central Asia branch in the city.

The 41-year-old businessman then proceeded by car to his office. After about 25 minutes Ali then left his office to deliver the money to a local car dealer.

But as he was about to leave one of employees called him saying there was a telephone call for him.

Ali then left the money in the locked car to take the call inside the office. It was at this time that two men in a motorcycle broke open the car door and stole the bag containing the money.

Sudargo regretted the incident but suggested that Ali was negligent.

"It was partly his own fault. We've repeatedly warned people not to leave valuables in their car and to also seek security assistance when transporting large sums of money," he said as quoted by Antara.