Two dogs stolen from general's house

JAKARTA (JP): Two adult German shepherds were stolen from a one-star Army general's house at the Army's Special Force's housing complex in East Jakarta on early Tuesday, a police officer said.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said the dogs, worth millions of rupiah on the local market, were kept in a cage outside the residence of Brig. Gen. Ginting Munte on Jl. Rasamala in Cijantung II, East Jakarta.

"Police suspect the dogs were poisoned before being removed from their cages," Lubis said.

A witness, Pvt. second class Sutrisno, who serves as a guard and driver for Ginting, has been questioned by local police detectives, Lubis said.

Sutrisno said he saw the dogs were missing from their cage at about 4:30 a.m.

There was nothing suspicious at the house and the front gate of the house was still locked, the private was quoted by Lubis as saying.

Sutrisno said he realized the two dogs had been stolen only after one of Ginting's family members asked him about the dogs.

Police believe the dogs were stolen by more than one person and that the thieves entered the grounds of the house by jumping over the front fence.

The theft probably took place between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m., Lubis said.

The dogs, according to Sutrisno, usually barked at any strangers entering the house. (emf)