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olice have arrested three men, one a driver of a reputable taxi company, thought to be involved in robbing three women in taxis on separate occasions last week and in late November.

The head of the violent crimes unit with the Jakarta Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Heryawan, said on Monday that one of the suspects arrested, 41-year-old Sutrisno, claimed he was a taxi driver with the legitimate Blue Bird Group who used a white taxi stolen from the rival Express Group to conduct the robberies.

'€œSutrisno played the role of the driver who picked up the victims. We think he was the brains of the operation,'€ Herry said.

He explained that Sutrisno admitted he stole the Express taxi from the Mega Kuningan area in South Jakarta when its owner had gone to eat lunch and had accidentally left the key in the ignition.

Sutrisno, who was arrested on Sunday, allegedly changed the taxi registration number from BD6075 to DP1805 and kept the taxi parked near his boardinghouse in Cililitan, East Jakarta.

Previously, Express Group management denied the allegation that any cars used by the robbers were their official taxi cabs.

However, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto told reporters that the taxi matched one reported missing on Nov. 24.

'€œAlthough we don'€™t have the taxi in our possession, we already know where it is located,'€ he said.

Last week two women separately reported being robbed at knife- and gunpoint by men who had been hiding in the trunks of white taxis allegedly bearing the Express Group logos and had entered the cabs through the back seats.

One victim claimed that she was throttled by the man so that she could not scream before he and others took her valuables.

Jakarta Police chief detective Sr. Comr. Heru Pranoto said that 31-year-old Edwar Syah Jaya was also arrested on Sunday. Investigators suspected that Edwar was the one assigned to hide in the taxi'€™s trunk before appearing out of the back seat to threaten the victims.

The final man arrested, 22-year-old Agus Supriyanto, was allegedly tasked with taking the victims'€™ possessions and taking out money from the victims'€™ bank accounts after stealing their ATM cards.

'€œAll three suspects had not been arrested before and were not involved with other convicts that used similar methods last year. One more suspect, Jambi, is still at large,'€ Jakarta Police chief detective Sr. Comr. Heru Pranoto said.

Heru added that the police managed to confiscate several pieces of evidence, including a revolver that may have been used to threaten the victims.

Separately, Blue Bird group spokesman Teguh Wijayanto said that the company had yet to receive police confirmation that the suspect was a Blue Bird taxi driver.

'€œHowever, we will support the police'€™s investigation and do whatever we can to help because robbery cases like this do not only affect the public'€™s safety, but also affect the reputations of taxi operators and good taxi drivers who are committed to their jobs,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Teguh added that the company was extremely strict with their selection process in order to prevent such crimes from happening. This includes a psychological test to see if they are fit for the job.

Once they have been hired, Teguh said, the drivers were given further training and regularly evaluated.

'€œWe have a schedule for all the drivers and we update it every day. We also take into account complaints from our customers,'€ he said.