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)