Security Guard Confiscates Stolen Bridge Railing But Thieves Reclaim It

Jakarta — Railings or safety barriers on Goyang Bridge in Ancol, North Jakarta are suspected to have been stolen by “metal termites” (organised metal scavengers). Several sections of the bridge’s protective fence have now vanished, leaving only rusted support posts.

Saputra (35), a security officer for a nearby construction project on Jembatan Goyang Road, claimed he once caught metal thieves on the bridge on two separate occasions.

“At that time, I managed to catch the people involved. But they escaped. When I patrol, I sometimes keep an eye on the bridge,” he told Kompas.com on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.

He explained that he had briefly left the location. Upon returning, the iron that had previously been on the bridge had disappeared.

Saputra then suspected the metal had been taken to a residential area adjacent to railway tracks not far from the bridge location.

“I asked the shop owner, there was a shop there (next to R.E. Martadinata Road). ‘Did anyone bring iron here?’ ‘No’. I checked into the railway tracks and found it there,” he said.

However, the metal he had secured subsequently went missing again. According to Saputra, the perpetrators typically remove metal by sawing the railing sections before detaching them from their supports.

Meanwhile, a local resident named Denny (50) stated that the disappearance of protective metal from the bridge had been occurring for approximately a year.

“This has been happening since the bridge was closed, roughly about a year. About half of it has disappeared,” he added when met by Kompas.com near the location on Tuesday.

He further noted that metal theft at the location had ceased after police apprehended three metal thieves on R.E. Martadinata Road.

Based on Kompas.com’s observation at the location on Tuesday (10 March 2026), the bridge connects R.E. Martadinata Road with Lodan Raya Road.

At the bridge access from R.E. Martadinata Road, two orange road barriers are visible. Meanwhile, from the Lodan Raya Road side, access to the bridge is blocked by barriers for the Harbour Road II toll project, with an approximately 10-metre gap.

The bridge’s railing condition shows it has been almost completely stripped by metal scavengers. From an original length of approximately 50 metres, the remaining protective fence is less than half its original state. Missing railing sections have left only support posts or railing posts that appear heavily rusted.