Samarinda Police Name Four Suspects in Telkom Cable Theft Case
Samarinda (ANTARA) – Samarinda City Police in East Kalimantan have named four people as suspects out of 37 detained in connection with the theft of PT Telkom-owned underground cables at three locations in the city.
Samarinda Deputy Police Chief AKBP Anib Bastian said on Wednesday that four of those detained had formally been designated as suspects, while the other 33 were witnesses.
“The four suspects are identified by the initials ES, N and R, who acted as group leaders or recruited workers, and H, who was responsible for locating cable routes using a specialised detector,” Anib said at a news conference at Samarinda Police headquarters.
Anib said the alleged perpetrators were not from Samarinda but came from Java. Suspect H is from Makassar and is a former Telkom employee.
Police said 33 people treated as witnesses were road-digging labourers brought in from outside Kalimantan. They were offered daily wages of Rp350,000 without knowing that the work was illegal.
Samarinda Police Criminal Investigation Unit chief Kompol Rahmat Aribowo said the group carried out the operation at night, disguised as workers on an official project and equipped with safety gear, including high-visibility vests.
“But investigations showed that they had damaged and stolen public cables,” Rahmat said.
Rahmat said the illegal activity took place at three sites. The first was on Jalan AM Sangaji in Bandara ward, Sungai Pinang district, at 7.30pm local time on Wednesday, 14 October.
The second and third sites were on Jalan Cipto Mangunkusumo and Jalan Bung Tomo, in the Keledang Emas housing complex, Harapan Baru ward, Samarinda Seberang district. The work was carried out at 7.30pm on Sunday, 18 October.
The case went viral on social media after residents complained about dozens of mysterious road excavations that had been haphazardly covered, causing the asphalt to sink.
The situation prompted Samarinda Mayor Andi Harun to conduct a surprise inspection on Friday, 23 October.
During the inspection, Andi Harun found more than 60 illegal excavation sites along main roads, including on Jalan Cipto Mangunkusumo.
The mayor cross-checked the activity with telecommunications company management and confirmed that it was a cable-theft operation which had damaged public facilities.
Police seized digging equipment, an underground detector and transport vehicles, in addition to arresting the suspects.
The illegal roadworks are estimated to have caused Samarinda City Government infrastructure losses of Rp72 million at each incident site.
The suspects face charges under Article 477(1)(f) and (g), and/or Article 262 and/or Article 522 in conjunction with Articles 521, 20 and 21 of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.
They face up to seven years in prison for theft and up to five years for damaging public facilities.