Police confiscate 250 stolen cars, motorcycles

JAKARTA: A senior detective says that officers have detained 30 people who allegedly worked for an automobile-and-motorcycle-theft syndicate in the capital, confiscating 114 cars and 136 motorcycles stolen in the past two months.

Criminal investigation directorate chief Sr. Comr. Gatot Edi Pramono said on Tuesday that the police would allow people to reclaim their stolen cars and motorcycles.

“Vehicle owners can get back their cars or motorcycles by showing the owner’s identity card and the vehicle’s ownership and registration documents to the police,” Gatot said.

However, owners would have to bring their vehicles to court as evidence during any trial associated with the thefts, he added.

Detectives were still on the trail of more people in the syndicate. “Some of the stolen cars were taken to Lampung, Palembang in South Sumatra and Sukabumi in West Java,” he said.

Gatot said that the suspects allegedly stole the vehicles by using special keys. In many cases, the suspects rented the vehicles and fled.

The suspects cooperated with others who forged vehicle documents, according to Gatot.

Stolen vehicles with forged documents were sold from Rp 25 million (US$2,200) to Rp 25 million for cars and Rp 2.5 million for motorcycles.