Street Lighting Panel Stolen, 3 Thieves Arrested By Tarakan Police

Illustration of criminals (VOI)

The Tarakan Police Detective and Criminal Unit, North Kalimantan (Kaltara) arrested three men who stole solar panels for public street lighting in Tarakan.

"Three men who were arrested with the initials AT (28), SA (28) and YA (26) after reportedly stealing solar panels that caused public street lights to go out," said Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Tarakan Police, AKP Randhya Sakhthika Putra, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 26.

There were six locations where the incident was targeted to steal the public street lighting solar panels.

A total of six solar panels along with one automatic battery or battery were brought together by the three and had already been sold for a value of Rp. 500,000 to Rp. 1,000,000.

Randhya said this case was revealed starting from complaints from residents at the Curhat Friday moment in several urban villages including, Selumit Pantai Village on June 9, 2023 and Karang Harapan Village on June 23, 2023, and Juata Permai Village which was held on July 21, 2023.

"Residents complained that the street lighting in the housing complex was dead and missing. Then we Satreskrim conducted an investigation," he said.

Meanwhile, the mastermind of the crime is in SA whose role is to find the location that is the target of theft.

Losses due to the theft of the solar panels reached Rp53 million from the six incidents where the suspects took action.

The three perpetrators were arrested by the Tarakan Police Satreskrim Resmob personnel on Wednesday.

"The three suspects admitted their actions. And confirmed taking solar panels at several points. The perpetrators took them by climbing, two people waited below," said Randhya.

For the actions of the three, it is suspected that Article 363 paragraph (1) 4 of the Criminal Code carries a sentence of seven years in prison.