Safe as 'thick' as thieves

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A sudden change of heart led thieves to dump a safe containing jewelry worth Rp 500 million (about US$50,000) on a local street last week.

Police detectives said they believed the thieves just could not figure out how to pry open the one-tone safe and possibly not decide to reform.

Sleman police precinct chief, Lt. Col. Andi Djaka, said the safe with 10kgs of gold and diamonds, Rp 4 million in cash and documents was found by a resident Wednesday on a street in Mlati, about 15 kilometers north of the Beringharjo market here from where it had been stolen.

"Apparently, they could not open the safe and they did not want to take the risk of being caught by police deployed on streets to safeguard traffic during Idul Fitri," Andi was quoted by Antara.

At a weight of more than a ton, the safe was probably too heavy for the crooks to transport in a vehicle.

The bullion was stolen from the Roda Terbang jewelry shop in Beringharjo located near the Yogyakarta palace.

It took a welder an hour to break through the 5-millimeter- thick steel container at the Yogyakarta police headquarters.

Relieved owner Sintawati said none of the contents was missing. (pan)