Online motorcycle taxi drivers going around neighborhoods are such a common sight that most people never give them a second thought. One criminal tried to use the ubiquity of online ojeks as camouflage while targeting homes to rob, but his disguise wasn’t enough to prevent him from getting caught.
The Jakarta Metro Police arrested the 45-year-old man, known as Tengker, yesterday after he was caught disguising himself as a motorcycle taxi driver for ride hailing service GrabBike in order to scout for empty houses around Penjaringan, North Jakarta.
“So when he found the target [house], the suspect would contact his accomplices, who are still wanted. His three accomplices break into the empty homes,” said AKBP Andi Adnan, head of the Motorized Burglary subdivision at the Jakarta Metro Police, as quoted by Merdeka yesterday.
Andi added that Tengker was able to disguise himself as a GrabBike driver after he bought the company’s green helmet, which is apparently available for purchase through unofficial channels.
The police confiscated several tools from Tengker thought to have been used to break into houses. It wasn’t revealed how many houses Tengker and his accomplices had burglarized during their spree.
Tengker could face up to 9 years in prison for theft.
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