Jakarta Police officers have arrested 28 criminals in the last 10 days as part of operations dubbed "Long Live Thunder" and "Falcon".

"Most of the 28 arrested people are thieves who targeted empty houses, stores and cars, while others operated gambling businesses," head of criminal and violence division Adj. Sr. Comr. Fadil Imran told reporters on Thursday.

He said the thieves had operated in Jakarta, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang.

"The thieves, who worked in groups, would wear clean and neat clothes when they checked whether their target houses were empty. They would knock on doors or ring bells," he said.

Fadil said the thieves would check to see if a house's outside lights were on during the daytime -- an indication that a family may be away on vacation.

Once they had made sure the house's drains were dry, the outside lights were on and they had checked no one had appeared after the bell had been rung, they would break in.

"They usually used a variety of tools, including crowbars and screwdrivers to break into the houses," Fadil said.

Two of the arrested suspects allegedly told the police they belonged to a syndicate which had burglarized six houses and stores between November last year and March this year.

The syndicate would rent a car to transport stolen goods, which included computers, photo-copy machines and television sets.

The arrested car thieves' game was to rent a car and a driver and go on a long journey, a police report said. They would then spend the night, along with the driver, at a hotel.

The thieves would then give the driver a herbal drink mixed with sleeping pills -- which were potent enough to induce a three-day sleep. While the driver slept, they would steal the car, the report said.

Police also arrested 10 gambling suspects in three locations in East Jakarta and Bekasi.

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