Police officer arrested for involvement in car theft ring

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police's car theft unit has confirmed it has arrested a police officer on suspicion of being involved with a car theft syndicate, an officer said Friday.

The team arrested First. Brig. Wahyu Murdiyanto in his office at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Jl Sudirman in South Jakarta on Monday.

The arrest followed a police investigation into the alleged illegal sale of high-end cars, complete with faked documents.

Suspicion was raised about the cars after members of the public noticed they were being sold for unusually low prices.

"Earlier, we arrested one man before we arrested Wahyu. Now we are still questioning Wahyu to get more information about what we suspect is a syndicate," the head of the city police's car theft unit, Adj. Comr. Nico Avinta, said Friday.

He said Wahyu was alleged to have played the important role of forging registration documents for cars stolen by the suspected auto theft network.

Police detectives said they believed Wahyu's arrest would lead them to other crooked officers in the police force, arguing it would have been impossible for Wahyu to do his work for the syndicate without the help of other officers.

The Jakarta Police have so far confiscated six cars and are still looking for another eight stolen cars as well as a number of suspects.

Nico said Wahyu could face a sentence of up to four years in prison if found guilty of forgery and taking part in the trade of stolen goods.

The deputy head of the city police's Internal Affairs Department, Comr. Heru Markilat Prasetyo, said Wahyu could face a double set of charges, both criminal and administrative, because he allegedly committed the crimes while still working as an active police officer.

"We will continue to question Wahyu once the criminal investigation is completed," Heru said, as quoted by news portal Tempointeraktif.

According to police records, Wahyu was questioned by both the criminal unit and the Internal Affairs Department over a similar car theft case in August 2005.

At that time, police arrested Wahyu and three other men, Abdul, Muhamad and Ishak, and confiscated one car with forged documents. However, Wahyu was not charged or disciplined by police.

Nico said Wahyu was not dismissed as a police officer in 2005 because one of the witnesses in the case had cleared him of any involvement in the suspected car theft syndicate.

"But we will dismiss him this time if he is proven guilty," Nico said.