Three foreign snatch thieves arrested in Central Jakarta; police urge crowds to stay vigilant

Police have disclosed that three foreign national snatch thieves in Central Jakarta have been arrested. The Head of Crime Investigation Unit of the Jakarta Pusat Metro Police, AKBP Roby Heri Saputra, urged residents to be vigilant at crowded locations.

“This is not only happening in Central Jakarta but all over Jakarta. Many perpetrators are attempting crimes such as street robbery and snatching in crowded places,” Roby told reporters at Monas, Central Jakarta, on Thursday (21 May 2026).

Roby said the perpetrators target crowded locations when victims are not alert. Several times the victims of pickpocketing have been foreign nationals.

“Indeed, the locations they target are places with many victims who are not alert, where crowds gather. And in some cases the victims have been foreign nationals,” he noted.

Roby explained that the police have also solved cases of snatchings and mugging. Among them is a case of a firefighter being robbed in Gambir, Central Jakarta.

“From several snatchings and muggings that have gone viral, thankfully we at the Jakarta Pusat Police have resolved them. One of the viral cases we have solved is the mugging of a firefighter in Gambir, which we have arrested and solved,” he said.

“Then there was one near Jembatan Besi, Sawah Besar, which has also been arrested and solved. Then the theft of a foreign national’s mobile phone in Santa Ursula,” he added.

There were also snatchings of a Polish national’s phone in Menteng and an Italian national’s in Bundaran HI. The cases have been solved by the police.

“Yesterday’s latest case from Poland has also been arrested and solved by Menteng police. The incident at Bundaran HI has also been identified and solved by Jatanras Polda Metro Jaya,” he explained.

Roby said the cases were solved thanks to cooperation with Polda Metro Jaya and the Jakarta Provincial Government in utilising CCTV. The police hope this will facilitate investigations and help identify the perpetrators.

“This should also help ease the investigative process and enable us to uncover the criminals, and it should make offenders think three to five times before committing crime in the Greater Jakarta area, especially Central Jakarta,” he said.

“Where there are many CCTV cameras monitoring their movements, so they do not commit crime,” he concluded.