Six airport porters arrested for stealing luggage

Six airport porters arrested for stealing luggage

JAKARTA (JP): Police have captured six porters and two fences
specializing in baggage theft at the Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport over the past two weeks.

All six porters worked for PT Jakadara, the sole firm
entrusted with moving baggage from planes' storage sections to
the luggage retrieval belts at the airport.

"We are continuing the investigation to check whether other
employees of the company were also involved in the theft," City
Police spokesman Lt. Col. Latief Rabar said yesterday.

PT Jakadara employs around 300 porters.

According to Latief, the six usually stole passengers'
property in the plane's baggage hold while unloading the luggage
from the plane.

Police identified the six suspected porters as Ramli, 29, a
resident of Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta; Waludin, 28, a resident
of Jatinegara, East Jakarta; Sudjimin, 27, a resident of
Cilandak, South Jakarta; Deden Jaelani, 21, a resident of
Pengadegan, South Jakarta; Firdaus, 25, and Eddy Mulyadi, 20. The
addresses of the latter, who were captured Sunday evening, were
not disclosed.

Aside from the six, on Wednesday the police arrested the two
fences who allegedly bought the stolen goods. The fences were
identified as Tjong Po Sie, alias David, 34, a resident of Jl.
Raya Kedoya, West Jakarta, and Ricky Viktor Liem, 25, a resident
of Taman Dutamas, West Jakarta.

Latief said police began their investigation into the theft
after receiving complaints from Merpati airlines that two of its
passengers, identified as Mrs. Sahra and Mrs. Siregar, had lost
their baggage at the Cengkareng airport on July 12 and July 20
respectively.

Jewelry

Mrs. Sahra, who flew from Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, to
Jakarta reportedly lost jewelry valued in the tens of millions of
rupiah from her bag.

Mrs. Siregar, who flew from Palembang, South Sumatra, to
Jakarta reported to the airline company that she had lost jewelry
and a dozen other items, including a camera, pens and two bottles
of perfume, worth a total of Rp 20 million (US$9,310) from her
bags.

Both have received compensation for their losses from Merpati.

After receiving the reports, police conducted an investigation
and determined that the thefts must have occurred between the
unloading process and the transferring of the baggage via
vehicles to the baggage retrieval room.

Three days later they captured porters Ramli and Waludin who
were on duty on July 12 and July 20.

During the ensuing interrogation, Ramli and Waludin admitted
to having committed the theft. They told the police that theft
was a common practice among the many porters. They said they
simply rummaged through unlocked baggage while doing the
unloading.

Sometimes, they said, they had even broken the locks.

Police then developed the investigation and arrested the rest
of the suspects, including David and Ricky. Police confiscated
jewelry worth tens of millions of rupiah from the suspects.

Police believe such thefts have been going on for quite some
time. They are urging the public to report any thefts of luggage
or from their baggage immediately, so that they can eliminate the
illegal practice. (jsk)