Tangerang man arrested for stealing charity box from mosque and driving away in his SUV

MM, suspect in charity box from a mosque in Tangerang. Photo: Tangerang Police
MM, suspect in charity box from a mosque in Tangerang. Photo: Tangerang Police

Stealing is a obviously a sin and we imagine stealing from a house of worship is way worse in the eyes of any deity.

One man in Tangerang, Indonesia, was arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing a charity box from a mosque. Charity boxes are a common feature in Indonesian mosques for worshippers to donate money that generally goes towards mosque maintenance, operations, or for charity events.

The suspect, identified by his initials MM, went to the mosque on Sept. 18. As he was leaving, he saw an unguarded charity box and took it with him as he drove away, ironically, in a Mitsubishi Pajero (considered a luxury vehicle by many in Indonesia).

Luckily, CCTV cameras around the mosque captured images of him leaving in what turned out to be his car.

“We checked his plate number and we located him in Bekasi,” Tangerang Police Chief Sabilul Alif said in a statement today, as picked up by Kumparan.

The police did not say if MM spent the money inside the charity box, but he has been charged with theft under the KUHP (Criminal Code) which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

MM was lucky that he wasn’t caught stealing from a mosque by locals. Last year, among many incidents of deadly mob justice in Indonesia, one man who may have been wrongly accused of stealing from speakers a mosque was brutally tortured and burned to death in Bekasi.



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