Three arrested with stolen telephone box

Three arrested with stolen telephone box

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested three people for stealing a telephone exchange box from Jl. Yos Sudarso, North Jakarta.

Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira, chief of the North Jakarta Police Precinct, said on Monday that the three, identified only as Har, Ras, and Sar, were caught at the Kalideres bus terminal before handing over the stolen goods to a buyer, Antara reported yesterday.

The North Jakarta PT Telkom office had earlier announced that around 600 telephone lines in the vicinity of Jl. Yos Sudarso had been disrupted for three days due to last week's theft.

The theft has inflicted a loss of more than Rp 43 million to PT Telkom. "The loss does not include the cost of repairs," Abubakar said.

He said there have been 24 thefts of telephone cables and exchange boxes in North Jakarta since March.

Abubakar said Har, who hails from Central Java, received an order for a telephone exchange box from a man who promised to buy the item at between Rp 400,000 and Rp 500,000.

"Police have identified the man who placed the order," he said.

While the North Jakarta police were busy with the arrest of the three suspects, PT Telkom West Jakarta branch office said yesterday that an exchange box on Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta had been stolen.

"As many as 600 telephone lines around Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta, have been disrupted since Monday due to the theft," Jimmy R. Villanueva, head of PT Telkom West Jakarta branch office said.

Jimmy said yesterday that the theft on Monday has affected telephone numbers beginning with 520xxxx, 525xxxx, 526xxxx. Telex lines beginning with the number 62xxx, belonging to office buildings such as Akuntan Sentosa, Femina, Menjangan Sakti, TIRA, Ustra Indonesia, Cipta Strada, PPI, Tax Offices and Bank Tabungan Negara have also been disrupted.

Jimmy said repairs are being made, but he did not say when services would be back to normal. (sur)