Bali tourists get out of taxi taking them way off course, driver steps on gas before they can get their stuff from the trunk

A taxi driver has been arrested in Bali for making off with a trunk-full stuff belonging to his passengers. 

Taxi driver Alfridus Tunais, 22, allegedly ditched his passengers, an Australian family, in Kuta on Tuesday with a reported Rp 300 million worth of stuff still in the taxi. 

Amazingly enough, the Australian family reported the driver to the police and the police apprehended the man within hours. 

Kuta Police Commissioner I Wayan Sumara explained that the Australian family of three were taking the taxi after shopping at Discovery Mall and were headed towards Mega Hotel Boutique on Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai. While they were driving, the driver apparently changed course and started heading towards Denpasar. 

“The victims began to question the suspect. You see, the victims usually payed Rp 40k for this trip from the mall, but this time it was Rp 60k,” Sumara said in a press conference on Thursday afternoon, as quoted by Nusa Bali. 

Feeling cheated, the family asked the driver to stop. Turns out they were all the way in south Denpasar on Jl. Tukad Yeh Aya. When the family moved to take their shopping from the trunk, the driver just stepped on the gas and fled, according to Sumara. 

The family immediately reported the driver, who was tracked down to an address in Ungasan. Though he wasn’t in Ungasan, police say they found him hiding out in a boardinghouse nearby in Jimbaran. 

From Tunais, police say they confiscated evidence in the form of two iPhone 6s, a Samsung Note, gold jewelry, and other valuables. 

The driver is facing charges carrying up to five years in prison, according to Sumara.