Denpasar Police have apprehended a team of four men for systematically burglarizing houses around South Bali.
The four men were allegedly part of a group focused on gold jewelry theft lead by a man named Habib. The arrested were identified by Tribun Bali as Baktiar, 27, Rafid, 49, Amirudin, 23, and Adam, 18.
Chief of Denpasar Police’s criminal investigation unit Reinhard Nainggolan said that the four would prey on houses in broad daylight, when residents weren’t home and would use screwdrivers to get inside.
Sanur, Kuta, Nusa Dua, and North Kuta, were amongst the targeted areas, Nainggolan said on Tuesday.
Over 50 items, mainly pieces of gold jewelry like rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants, as well as other types of gemstone jewelry were secured as evidence by police.
The thieves would apparently sell the stolen jewelry at Jl. Hasanuddin, Denpasar.
“After selling the gold, we followed and then caught them,” Nainggolan told Tribun.
The men unknowingly led the police to a hotel where they were staying at in Kuta.
Things didn’t go so smoothly when police went in for the arrest. According to Nainggolan, the perps tried to evade arrest, so police ended up sticking the men with some hot lead in the leg—a common practice of police here is to shoot “resisting” suspects in the leg so they don’t get away.
Police gave a warning shot, and then “finally, in accordance with procedure, we disabled those that did not cooperate,” Nainggolan explained.
Once arrested, police found out that they group had committed five burglaries in Bali to date.
This arrest is related to the arrest of another group of people at a nightclub on Jl. Teuku Umar some time ago, police said, explaining that the group also claimed to be working for a leader named Habib.
Police are developing their investigation to uncover the larger network they believe these men are a part of.
