A money changer named Nyoman Rusmaja from Kampung Baru village near Lovina area was robbed of approximately $US 113,000 (more than Rp 1 billion) yesterday.
The intriguing robbery took place in a shop on Jalan Ahmad Yani Barat No. 203, Singaraja.
At the time, Rusmaja was making a foreign exchange transaction with a couple who were in the shop. But at the time of the transaction, the money belonging to Rusmaja literally disappeared through the back door. Rusmaja himself was left locked inside the shop. To get out, shouting for help, he was forced to break the glass at the front of the shop. The neighbours then gathered around the shop, which made the traffic on Jalan Ahmad Yani West come to a standstill and moments later the police from Buleleng and Singaraja arrived.
Inside the shop, police found business cards and letterheads belonging to a Widodo Lim and CV Bali International Logistics with the address of 203 Jalan Ahmad Yani Singaraja. In addition they found a hole in the wall at the back of the shop.
Rusmaja testified at the scene that he came to the shop to exchange foreign currency.
He came to the shop at around 1pm to exchange the currency. At the time he had 20.000 U.S. dollars on him. In the shop there were two people; a man allegedly called Widodo Lim and a woman suspected of being his employee.
“At the time I was about to exchange U.S. dollars to Australian dollars,” he said.
According to Rusmaja, the offender claimed to have a lot of Australian dollars to exchange, so he was asked to bring more US dollars. The perpetrators were interested in the offer and Rusmaja then ordered his men to bring approximately 93,000 U.S. dollars more. All the money was handed over to the alleged offender. The money was then taken into a room at the back of the shop on the grounds that it would be stored in a strongbox.
“At that time I became suspicious of why the money was taken into the room,” he said.
When he wanted to enter the room, the victim suddenly found himself locked outside the room. He suddenly realized that he was being robbed. He tried to get out through the front door, but it was also locked. He was then only able to get out after breaking through a glass door.
But outside, he discovered the perpetrators had fled with all his money. The victim tried to catch up to them in Lovina, but the perpetrators were not to be seen. The couple were riding a plain black Vario motorcycle and wearing blue batik.
Buleleng Police spokesman, AKP Made Mundra said that after surveying the crime scene the police had coordinated with the Buleleng police station and police in other districts to pursue the perpetrators. “We’ve been coordinating with the police to find the perpetrators,” he said.
Policeman Mundra said the case was actually more accurately described as a case of fraud and embezzlement. According to him, the perpetrators seem to have planned the crime for some time, which was proven by the perpetrators intentionally making a hole through the wall in the back of the shop. The mode of operation, according to the police, was that couple leased the shop with the name of a particular company and from the shop they tricked the victim.
“The company itself is not clearly engaged in any business. Just look at the shop, there’s nothing inside,” he said.
Meanwhile, the owner of the property said that the alleged perpetrators contracted the shop a few months ago. The person contracting the shop claimed they wanted to open a business, but had not had time to put up a sign. The owner claimed that he had forgotten the name of contractor and only recalled the name as Koko. “The man claimed to be from Surabaya and living in Denpasar,” he said
