Burglar caught with pants down

Indah Setiawati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Fri, 01/30/2009 3:14 PM  |  Bali

South Denpasar Police have arrested a thief whose modus operandi was burglarizing houses wearing nothing but underpants.

The thief, identified as I Gede Suparma, a 36-year-old native of Singaraja, was cornered by officers after breaking into two villas on Jl. Mertasari, Sanur in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

He confessed to the arresting officers that he had recently bur-glarized several villas in Ubud. Suparma once served time for similar crime.

"He told us he only wore underpants when doing the actions and a man named Aryantuna usually drove him to the crime sites," South Denpasar Police chief Adj. Comr. Gde Ganefo said.

He added that, as of Wednesday afternoon, his detectives were still grilling both Suparma and Aryantuna to discern whether the pair had committed similar crimes in other locations.

Ganefo said Suparma broke into the Bahana Victory villa on Jl. Mertasari at 2:30 a.m. by forcing a window open. He took a bag containing a watch, a camera, two mobile phones, US$100 and Rp 1.5 million ($125) in cash while the owner, Waskito, a resident of Jakarta, was sleeping.

He continued to a neighboring villa on Jl. Mertasari No. 12 at 5 a.m., which he entered though an unlocked door.

As he was taking a mobile phone and Rp 261,000 in cash, the villa tenant, Anne Frances Sinclair, an Australian who has become an Indonesian citizen, woke up and called a security guard.

"The guard rang us and four police officers, who were patrolling nearby, rushed to the area and chased him," Ganefo said.

He said Suparma would be charged with violating Article 363 of the Criminal Code on robbery which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Ganefo could not give details of the charges facing Aryantuna because the investigation is ongoing.

"He (Aryantuna) may be charged with Article 55 or 56 for assisting the perpetrator. But we have to wait for the investigation's result," Ganefo said.

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