Woman robbed by taxi driver, accomplices

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 04/26/2006 10:50 AM | Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An employee of a women's magazine was the victim of a robbery Monday, allegedly committed by a taxi driver and his three accomplices.

They got away with a cellular phone valued at Rp 7.5 million (about US$789) and Rp 2.5 million in cash.

Marcelia Desianti, an employee of Femina magazine, reported the robbery to city police Tuesday.

In her report, Marcelia, 27, a resident of Tangerang, Banten, said she boarded a taxi -- a blue one but she forgot the name -- which she hailed in front of her office on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan.

It was around 6:30 p.m., and she wanted to go home to Tangerang. Unexpectedly, the taxi exited at the Cikokol toll gate in West Jakarta and not far from the toll gate, the driver stopped the vehicle. Three men entered the taxi, two joined Marcelia on the back seat and one man sat next to the driver.

They grabbed her phone and asked her to withdraw cash from a nearby Automatic Teller Machine, which did not have any Closed Circuit Television system.

The robbers then drove to Sunter in North Jakarta. Given enough money to get home, Marcelia was let out on the roadside at around 11 p.m.

To police, Marcelia said she could not remember the faces of the robbers, but said the taxi was blue and the driver wore a cream-colored uniform.

The case is the sixth reported robbery this year involving taxis. The most recent was the robbery of 19-year-old Endang on Apr. 6.

Endang, who was on her way to work in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, alighted from a public transportation vehicle and then, as if hypnotized, was persuaded into a taxi by three unknown men.

She lost her cellular phone, her wallet and her earrings, and was dumped in Klender, East Jakarta.(10)

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