Thief nabbed after drugging couple and stealing Mercedes

Thief nabbed after drugging couple and stealing Mercedes

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta police have captured an
automobile showroom employee believed to have stolen a Mercedes-
Benz sedan from a rich couple after drugging them.

"As far as I know, no one has ever used this modus operandi as
far as vehicular theft is concerned," Maj. Charles Marpaung,
chief of detective section at the Central Jakarta police
precinct, told reporters yesterday.

The suspect, identified as Jimmi Joni Wantah, 34, is a
resident of Depok who has been working at the Tiga Berlian Motor
showroom for the last three years. He reportedly told the police
during the interrogation that he had never committed a theft
prior to the one that took place on Tuesday.

"The suspect told us that he resorted to crime because he was
in need of cash, since his company had recently lost Rp 40
million (US$ 18,500) due to his negligence, and the company had
ordered him to pay it back," said Charles.

The owner of the "Baby Benz" sedan, identified as Gina
Margiana, 28, and Kuswardi, 40, are restauranteurs.

Joni, who knew the couple's address after reading an
advertisement on a daily about their plan to sell their 1987
Mercedes, visited the Kuswardi's at their home in Kemayoran,
Central Jakarta. During the meeting the suspect introduced
himself as Yudi to Kuswardi and said his boss was interested in
buying their car.

Before he left, the suspect asked Kuswardi to meet his boss at
the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel on Tuesday.

Kuswardi and his wife agreed to the suspect's request and met
Joni was pretending to be waiting for his boss at the hotel's
lobby at 1:30 p.m. The suspect then asked the couple to come
along to his room on the tenth floor, where he said, "they could
watch the television and enjoy some drinks while waiting for his
boss."

There, the couple was offered orange juice which was prepared
by Joni beforehand. One of the four glasses of drinks, being
half-empty, was claimed by Joni to be his drink.

Halcion

"The couple, unaware that the drinks had been drugged by Joni
with the sedative 'Halcion,' drank the juice and fell unconscious
within a half hour, " Charles said.

Joni then took the ignition key, vehicular document from the
couple's bag and made away with the car.

After waking up at around 4 p.m., the couple realized that
they had been cheated by Joni and immediately reported the case
to Menteng police, who then sent the report to Central Jakarta
police precinct.

Soon after he received the report, Charles ordered his men to
check out all showrooms in the mayoralty and found the car on the
following day at the Manggala Motor showroom on Jl. Musi, Central
Jakarta.

The showroom owner said that Joni had sold the car at Rp 120
million but he hadn't paid it yet, saying he needed time to check
out the originality of the auto registration.

Late in the morning, Joni phoned the showroom's owner, telling
him to deliver the payment to someone at the Sarinah shopping
center on Jl. MH. Thamrin.

The showroom owner, suspicious at the request of Joni, sent
two employees together with a detective.

Upon seeing the three, Joni called back through public phone
to the showroom, wondering why there were three men, saying two
were enough.

The showroom owner said two persons were not enough to protect
such plentiful cash and told Joni to reclaim his car if he did
not agree with the procedure.

Joni came to showroom at around 4 p.m. and was soon arrested
by Charles and his men who had been waiting for him. (jsk)