Batam is still a market for stolen cars from Malaysia, the Riau Islands Police's traffic affairs directorate announced.
The directorate recently found two stolen cars from Malaysia as indicated by the cars' serial numbers, which matched ones sent by Interpol to the Indonesian Police.
"We received a report from Interpol in early September about cars stolen in Malaysia," traffic affairs director Adj. Sen. Comr. Adang Ginanjar told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Adang added his office was asked to report to Interpol if they found further cars with serial numbers that matched the ones mentioned in Interpol's report.
It later turned out that of the hundreds of stolen cars listed in the report, two had been found in Batam in early September.
"This shows that Batam is still a market for stolen cars from Malaysia," said Adang, adding the two cars were currently under police custody for further investigation.
Adang said his office had previously seized dozens of stolen cars from Malaysia at a showroom in Batam in 2007.
The cars, all above 3,000 cc class, were sold as new cars.
"They surely entered Batam illegally because according to the law, used cars can no longer enter the region," he said.
He added that thefts of motorized vehicles in Malaysia were relatively high because neighboring countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam had become the main markets for the stolen cars.
"There has also been an indication that car owners are allowing their insured cars to be stolen and then buying new cars with the compensation money," Adang said.
In anticipation that the cars would be registered with the police for ownership letters, the traffic affairs directorate always conducted physical checks on the cars, recording the machine and body serial numbers so it could match these with the list provided by Interpol.
"Although the cars were found here, they will not be sent back to Malaysia," Adang said.
"It's impossible for us to do so because it's not just costly but also takes time."
He added that according to Law No. 22/2008 on traffic affairs, if within a year no claim was made over a car found by the police, the car would automatically belong to the state. It would then be officially confiscated and auctioned.
"If we find cars stolen from Malaysia, then according to the prevailing law, they will belong to the state," he said, adding apart from Batam, Kalimantan was also a market for stolen cars from Malaysia.
