A 31-year-old man was apprehended for having stolen several TVs from various hotels, villas, and fancy kosan (boarding homes), the Kuta Police announced today.
Police identified the suspect by the initials MAM, and local outlets reported that he hailed from Tomohon, North Sulawesi. MAM committed the thefts in four different locations in Kuta and Seminyak, where he would book a room and later offer the in-room TV on online marketplaces.
“After finding a potential buyer, he would unplug the [hotel] room’s TV and deliver it at a place both he and the buyer have agreed upon,” Kuta Police Chief Comr. Orpa SM Takalapeta said in a statement.
MAM was arrested last Thursday after booking a kosan on Kayu Aya Street in Seminyak. The owner of the facility, I Ketut Widastra, alerted the authorities after he was notified by a witness that MAM had come down from his second-floor room carrying a TV.
Ketut said he tried to contact MAM to no avail and later found that both the TV and its remote control were gone from the room.
Hours later, MAM was arrested and the police confiscated several items as evidence, including two 32-inch TVs, a 28-inch TV, an antenna cord, a belt bag, a set of screwdrivers, and two room keys.
Police say MAM may face up to five years in prison for theft.
