Thief caught in the act at HI restaurant

Thief caught in the act at HI restaurant

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A thief was caught red-handed on Thursday morning at Hotel
Indonesia's Ramayana Restaurant, while he was trying to steal a
briefcase.

Hasan Basri bin Usman, 38, was caught in the act by his would-
be victim Morteza Granghadr, a 45-year-old Iranian staying at the
hotel.

Granghadr was having his breakfast at around 8 a.m. at the
restaurant, which was packed with 300 guests, when the incident
took place.

He put his black briefcase on a vacant seat at Table 7, and
was just about to sit down with a plate of food from the buffet
when he saw that his briefcase had been moved to an empty seat at
another table, next to a man later identified as Hasan.

Granghadr quickly grabbed Hasan, who insisted that the
briefcase was his, and handed him over to security guards. Hasan
was later taken to City Police headquarters with several bruises
on his face.

Restaurant manager Jamari said Hasan had been seen hanging out
at the restaurant for several days.

"I thought that he was one of the hotel's guests, as he was
always well dressed," he told reporters.

He said that the hotel security guards found it difficult to
monitor visitors at the restaurant, which received at least 300
visitors each morning for breakfast.

Police confiscated from Hasan, a resident of Kayu Agung
subdistrict, Ogan Komering Ilir district, Palembang, South
Sumatra, his driver's license, ID card and several local lottery
tickets.