Batam Customs Office Broken Into, Cleaning Officers Arrested

Illustration of criminals arrested (VOI)

The Criminal Investigation Unit of the Barelang Police, Riau Islands Police managed to apprehend three suspects in the theft of dozens of evidence of evidence at the Batam Customs office. "There are three people named as suspects, namely the initials AS, E and S. They were arrested for stealing evidence of evidence of evidence in the form of dozens of cell phones in warehouses located in the Batam Customs office complex," said Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Barelang Police, Kompol Budi Hartono, as reported by ANTARA, August 21. Budi explained that the three suspects were arrested on August 16, 2023. One of the US suspects, a janitor at the Batam Customs office.

He said that initially the theft case that occurred at the Batam Customs and Excise office was revealed from the report of one of the employees that 63 units of evidence from the cellphone of the Iphone brand in the warehouse for storing evidence. "After being traced, the suspicion led to the suspect AS who worked as a janitor there, because his actions were caught on camera surveillance of the building. After being investigated, it turned out that the US was assisted by E and S to sell the Iphone evidence. The suspects were arrested on August 16, 2023 at around 12.00 WIB in their respective hiding places," he said.

The modus operandi, said Budi, was that the US suspect who worked in the office took advantage of the quiet atmosphere to bring evidence of tension from inside the warehouse after working hours were over. When checking, Customs and Excise officers found that the evidence had decreased. "After re-checking and it was found that the cell phone had decreased by 63 units, they reported it directly to the police. Currently, all three have been secured in the detention room of the Barelang Police," he said.

The four convicts were Acting Pemalang Secretary Slamet Masduki, Head of Pemalang BPBD Sugiyanto, Head of Pemalang Kominfo Service Yanuarius Natbani, and Head of PUPR Pemalang Service Muhammad Saleh.