Police: Medan bandits had fake vehicle license plates

The North Sumatra Police say the robbers who killed a police officer and injured two security guards when they robbed a bank in Medan on Wednesday used fake vehicle license plates, hindering the police’s investigation.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar said Friday that the police faced difficulties in finding the criminals because they had been following false leads.

“We followed the perpetrators based on the license plate numbers as seen in photos, but they were fake, making them difficult to trace,” Baharuddin told The Jakarta Post.

He added the police have deployed a special team — comprised of 50 officers from the National Police headquarters, the North Sumatra Police and the local police precinct  — to capture the bank robbers.