Thieves Pretend To Be Vaccine Officers While Bringing Gas Stove As Gift In Magetan Arrested

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MAGETAN - Magetan, East Java Resort Police (Polres) officers arrested a group of fraudsters who disguised themselves as COVID-19 vaccine and handling officers, causing millions of rupiah to be lost in the community.

Magetan Police Chief Yakhob Silvana Delareskha said the gang of three were arrested at two different locations.

"We managed to secure the three of them from two different places. Namely, two suspects at the perpetrator's boarding house in Panekan Magetan sub-district, and one suspect escaped but we managed to secure again in Brebes, Central Java," said Yakhob Silvana Delareskha, in Magetan, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, December 8.

The three fraudsters are RW (23) a resident of Batang Regency, Central Java; AJ (34) a resident of Palembang City; and MA (33) a resident of Brebes Regency, Central Java.

The gang, said the Head of the Resort Police, in carrying out their actions disguised as COVID-19 vaccine officers.

The modus operandi is that the perpetrators give gifts while asking whether they have been vaccinated or not. The gift is a trick to distract the victim so that he can freely take valuables, namely jewelry.

Based on the victim's confession, the perpetrators came to ask about the vaccine while giving a gas stove as a gift. The perpetrator then tried to lead the victim to the kitchen while carrying the gift stove. Meanwhile, the other perpetrators entered the room to take the victim's jewelry.

"Most of the victims are elderly people who are easily distracted. There are three victims in three different locations," he said.

The victims included residents of Mangkujayan Village, Magetan City who suffered a loss of 8 grams of gold jewelry. Then the second victim was a resident of Sumberdukun Village, Ngariboyo District who suffered a loss of 23 grams of gold.

The last victim was a resident of Jabung Village, Panekan District. From the third victim, the perpetrator managed to bring gold jewelry weighing 28 grams.

When secured by the police, tens of grams of gold jewelry from the crime had not been sold by the perpetrators.

The police also confiscated evidence of a silver Toyota Avanza car used by the perpetrators. In addition, the police also confiscated some money and the uniform used by the perpetrators during the action as well as an identity card or ID card that reads Pertamina.

"To account for their actions, our perpetrators are snared under Article 378 of the Criminal Code, regarding the theft with a weight that is carried out successively. The maximum punishment is seven years in prison," said the Police Chief.

His party asked residents to increase their vigilance and not to easily believe if there were foreigners claiming to be COVID-19 handling officers. Moreover, if the mode goes into a number of rooms in the house under the pretext of giving gifts.