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Denpasar. Police in Bali are searching for the perpetrators of three separate robberies on Thursday targeting foreign nationals.

Denpasar Police spokesman Comr. Ketut Suwetra said on Saturday that police were having trouble identifying the robbers.

One of the victims, John Malcolm Bucher, 49, an Australian, was driving on Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, in front of Paradise Plaza Suites in Sanur, when his car began to swerve.

Realizing that he had a flat tire, Bucher pulled to the side of the road and walked some distance from his vehicle to find help. When he returned, he discovered that a bag containing a cellphone, $1,500 Australian dollars ($1,374) and Rp 4.2 million ($445) in cash, a digital camera and credit cards was missing from the car.

In another incident, a Dutch tourist, Laila Mehdi, 29, was walking on Jalan Danau Tamblingan in Sanur when two people on a motorcycle rode up alongside her in front of the Swastika Restaurant and snatched her bag.

“The victim yelled for help, but since the bike was very fast, they [the thieves] couldn’t be pursued,” another police officer said.

Among the items in the bag were documents and 600 euros ($900) in cash. Her total loss was estimated at Rp 32 million

In the third robbery, Hannes Bublitz, a German national who lives in the Bumi Asri housing complex in South Kuta, lost a Toshiba laptop computer and 700 euros in cash when a thief broke into his house while he was out.

Bublitz told the police that he was only out of the house briefly and returned to find he had been robbed. Bublitz said that he suspected the thief had entered the house through a window that had been left open.

In the light of the rising number of crimes targeting foreign nationals in Bali, Suwetra urged tourists and residents alike to be increasingly vigilant.

He said the police would continue investigating the incidents, and would increase security in tourist areas like Sanur and residential areas like Jimbaran.

Last month, Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika ordered a police crackdown in response to a recent crime wave on the resort island, with many of the victims being foreign nationals.

Pastika, a former Bali Police chief, said increasing criminal activity, particularly in the provincial capital Denpasar, was causing unease among residents and tourists.

The governor said the Bali administration was in the process of building an integrated security center to handle crime and natural disasters.



JG, Antara