Two men arrested for luxury car frauds

Two men arrested for luxury car frauds

JAKARTA (JP): Police have managed to apprehend two men on
Monday for their alleged involvement in a series of luxury car
frauds, City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang told the
media on Tuesday.

Aritonang said the men were identified as Dimas Haryo
Pamungkas, a former consultant who hailed from the Central Java
city of Magelang, and Heru Kristianto, a resident of North
Jakarta.

He told a media briefing that Dimas was arrested first at a
hotel in Central Jakarta on Monday, following a tip-off from the
public about the fraud.

"Dimas then told police that he didn't work alone as he always
sold his stolen vehicles to Heru, who was nailed later with the
held of Dimas," Aritonang said.

During the preliminary investigation, the two suspects
admitted to having stolen at least 18 luxury cars from various
rental companies in the period between August and early November.

When asked how he carried out his alleged crime at the press
briefing, Dimas admitted that he always operated his wrongdoings
from a notable hotel, pretending to be a wealthy traveling
businessman.

From the hotel Dimas usually contacted a rental car company to
send him a car with a driver for the whole day.

"I used to order luxury cars for my clients or my bosses,"
said Dimas, who once worked as a consultant who had close
relations with some big companies.

Usually, after a day of touring from one building to another
in the city, Dimas then asked the driver to escort him to a
discotheque.

"I invited the driver to join me at the discotheque where I
made him drunk before I left him there and fled away with the
rented car," Dimas said.

Police have confiscated a BMW sedan, a Honda Accord Ciello and
a Mercedes Benz sedan from Heru's place in Ancol in North
Jakarta.

In his confession Dimas said that he was forced to carry out
the crimes because some of his company's projects were canceled,
while on the other hand he had to feed his family and send his
children to school.

However, Dimas refused to give details about his family,
saying that what he had done was his own responsibility and
should not be known to his children.

Dimas, who admitted to have got at least Rp 5 million (US$660)
for each of the thefts, said that it was easy to get buyers for
the luxury cars.

However, he said that he had to spare at least one third of
his income for his next plan, especially for booking a hotel and
making downpayments with the rental company.

Both Dimas and Heru were detained at city police for further
investigation. (emf)