Tue, 23 Nov 1999

Thieves steal jeep, TV from home

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta police detectives are searching for four men who stole a Feroza jeep and 34-inch TV set from the home of a retired Army officer in South Jakarta early Monday morning.

"Our detectives are still looking into the case. Give us time," city police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said on Monday here.

He identified the home owner as 76-year-old Edi Widodo, who retired from the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) when he held the rank of second lieutenant. The house is on Jl. Peraja Dalam VI, Kebayoran Lama subdistrict.

The youngest of Edi's 12 children, Yenni, said on Monday she heard the car alarm go off at about 3:40 a.m.

"I came out of my room in time to see a man taking away our TV, which was positioned right in front of the living room's sofa. My brother (Ari Wibowo) was sleeping on the sofa," Yenni told reporters.

She said Ari returned home about 2 a.m. and fell asleep on the sofa while watching soccer on TV.

"By the time the robbers reached the main door, Ari got up. He wanted to scream, but I signaled for him to shut up because we didn't know if the robbers were armed or not.

"Before I knew it, two suspects drove off in our Feroza, honking very loudly as if they were jeering at us. Two others got away in their blue Futura Carry van. At that time, my father was taking his early morning bath."

Yenni said it was the second recent robbery in the area. Robbers broke the lock of a neighbor's window to enter the home.

"The robbers entered our house the same way. They played with the lock of our window," she said.

Armed robbery

In another robbery, North Jakarta Police detectives have only the shell of a FN bullet as the main clue in searching for two men in an afternoon robbery on Friday. The robbers broke a car window and stole a black bag containing Rp 102 million (US$14,570) on Jl. Boulevard Ujung, North Jakarta.

North Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Wisjnu Amat Sastro identified the robbery victim as 41-year-old Chairus Saleh.

"Chairus had just drawn the money from the Panin Bank branch at the Kelapa Gading Makro market, and was driving his Feroza jeep home to Kota Bambu subdistrict, West Jakarta," Wisjnu said.

"He took Jl. Boulevard Ujung when suddenly two people riding an RX King motorcycle, which had been following his jeep, came right by his jeep and tried to corner it. One of the guys knocked on his right car window. Chairus did not lower it.

"The guy suddenly shot through the window, shattering it ... the bullet penetrated through the left door of Chairus' jeep.

"Chairus was lucky that the bullet missed him."

Wisjnu said the man punched the car window to break it, grabbed the bag and fled. (ylt/05)