Burgled

[sumyunggai]

So this is fun.

Some of you may have followed the saga of my wife and her useless family (top tip: run far away from any prospective Indonesian spouse if their family does not seem to be 'pillars of the community').

Anyway, the last thing was my mother-in-law died last year. She had been protecting her drug addict son.

Drug addict son is taking more drugs (meth) now than ever before. (I can understand the appeal of Duterte in this context...)

Drug addict son broke into my house when I was out of the country. He went in and out pawning & stealing stuff:

generator
washing machine
rucksack
hammock
towel
bicycle
speaker
alcohol
gas bottle
pump
guitar
GPS
lights
wire
printer
sheetrock
rice cooker
electric cooker
kettle

etc.

Anyway.... He has admitted to it.

Situation now is this:

the stuff has gone to various places 'pawned'. For example, 4.5 million washing machine was pawned for 700,000rp. I have paid to get it back. Pump (1.5 million) was pawned for 150,000rp.

Some of it he has not owned up to.

But he says he will make good what he has owned up to, but I'm still finding out from people about stuff he has taken and where he pawned it.

The problem is that legally it is all still mine, but the police here and maybe elsewhere like to take people's stuff as 'barang bukti' (evidence), so you can be without it for months. Also he pawned it for example to a drug dealer. Apparently this drug dealer previously got arrested and paid the police 150 million.

So no guarantees that if I go with the police to get my stuff back that I will get anything back. I had someone speak to the police and they said I could bribe them for help, but I don't really trust them.

Anyway, at the moment the plan is to get everything back. Well not everything, e.g., the alcohol. He owns a small property, which is maybe worth 30 million, but he went and got it rented out till 2026 in return for money for drugs (in stages). So they are probably only going to pay 5 million or so. But I will use that (in theory) to get my stuff back.

Or maybe I will just end up paying myself.

At any rate I guess it beats having to buy everything new?

 

[Bad_azz]

ouch

 

[Bad_azz]

You haven't killed him yet have you?

If that happened to me someone would have to scrape me of the ceiling or scrape up the remnants of the thief.
Anyway, thus far my comments haven't been pragmatic... I am not sure of your location but you could try looking online for "expats" giving stuff away or selling really cheap... much as Puspawarna did here late last year.

... sheetrock?
wtf?

a towel? seriously? I will chip in with a new towel if you are in Java.

I would 1st & foremost have him buy me some alcohol, so I could get a bit drunk then slap him upside the head with the bottle.

 

[sumyunggai]

Oh well the towel I found in his 'kost'.

The stuff hasn't gone very far, it's just there's so much of it here, there and everywhere. Actually there are two of them, him and his best buddy. They share a room. But they have tried to say other people might have broken in, but the thing is I am being told about things they haven't owned up to, so at the moment I want to recover as much as possible before deciding on 'next steps'.

 

[harryopal1]

Commiserations. It would be bad enough if that were the beginning and end of it but the nature of addiction is that next time you are out another visit may clean out what you have retrieved plus anything else missed last time. Is relocating out of the question.... somewhere far away?

 

[waarmstrong]

I am wondering if the house was not occupied while you were abroad.

 

[sumyunggai]

The house was empty.

I am now going to upgrade security and redevelop the house to be less accessible

 

[Jamu]

Why don't you just turn your brother in law in for drug possession and consumption (anonymously if necessary)? Doesn't sound like he has a proverbial pot to piss in so he won't have any bribe money to get released. Problem solved.

 

[sumyunggai]

Why don't you just turn your brother in law in for drug possession and consumption (anonymously if necessary)? Doesn't sound like he has a proverbial pot to piss in so he won't have any bribe money to get released. Problem solved.

I would need to bribe the police to have him arrested I should think.

But anyway I am concentrating on getting my stuff back first.

 

[waarmstrong]

The house was empty.

I am now going to upgrade security and redevelop the house to be less accessible

Leaving a house unoccupied in Jakarta is akin to putting a sign on the gate saying "Welcome Burglars." If not an in-law, then someone else will take you up on your offer. Physical changes will probably help. Our solution, beyond good physical security, is to assure that the house is continuously occupied by trustworthy relatives. Certainly not fool proof, but working, so far. Good luck with your efforts.

 

[sumyunggai]

Leaving a house unoccupied in Jakarta is akin to putting a sign on the gate saying "Welcome Burglars." If not an in-law, then someone else will take you up on your offer. Physical changes will probably help. Our solution, beyond good physical security, is to assure that the house is continuously occupied by trustworthy relatives. Certainly not fool proof, but working, so far. Good luck with your efforts.

I am not in jakarta, but anyway.

At the moment my issues are:

• house is accessible from four sides and difficult to fence off from any side
• there are multiple points of entry including lots of windows, accessible via ceiling from outside, etc.
• slightly isolated from neighbours (but still not far)
• walls partly made of bamboo weave

So I will remove lots of the windows, including for example the silly wooden (!) windows in the bathroom, and probably add Hebel beams above ceiling, so that no access is possible from ceiling, remove the bamboo weave, etc.

I am looking at security cameras, but also maybe alarms, etc. The main problem with the cameras is that the angle of attack of burglars is essentially 360 degrees, depending on who they are. (For the previous burglar, this was obvious, but there could be other burglars in the future).

I can place cameras inside the house, but probably I need more advance warning.

In terms of continuous occupation, this is not practical as I might be gone for a day or two and do not want anyone there during that time.

I know the likely burglars by name & sight, but the question is what to do to keep them away - I can place alarms INSIDE the house, and hope they run away when they are triggered, or I can focus on deterring them in the first place. The problem with placing them outside is the security system itself could become a target, and it would be a bit silly to place a camera in a certain place only to have the burglar go in from a different side.

 

[Dave70]

In terms of continuous occupation, this is not practical as I might be gone for a day or two and do not want anyone there during that time.

I suggest you build a kind of panic room where you can store all your things when you will be gone for a day or two. The panic room can be fully concrete or all steel, if they want to break in, they have to use jackhammer or torch.

 

[waarmstrong]

Maybe your efforts will reduce the risk, but I am wondering if cameras and other electronics will just be something else to steal, rather than a deterrent . Given the state of Indonesian law enforcement, I simply am not confident that video of the perps in action is going to lead to a recovery or conviction.

Is moving to a more secure abode out of the question?

 

[Bad_azz]

I suggest you build a kind of panic room where you can store all your things when you will be gone for a day or two. The panic room can be fully concrete or all steel, if they want to break in, they have to use jackhammer or torch.

Looking at the list of stuff that was stolen, I don't think a secure storage room would be overly pragmatic:

" generator
washing machine
rucksack
hammock
towel
bicycle
speaker
alcohol
gas bottle
pump
guitar
GPS
lights
wire
printer
sheetrock
rice cooker
electric cooker
kettle

etc."

We never leave our home empty- we are lucky because hubby's family are extremely trustworthy and come stay if we are away- which is at least a couple of times a month.

Is there no-one you know who you could pay to house sit?
Hmmm
Or do I sense a potential business idea here of renting out my in-laws?

 

[waarmstrong]

Same here; we never leave the house unoccupied. I understand that's not an option for everyone, but has proved to be an effective arrangement for us. Beyond that . . .

We know our neighbors and make an effort to contribute to local charities, attend neighborhood events. In return, among other things, the nearby ibu ibu keep an eagle eye on all the comings and goings in the neighborhood, especially near the bule house, not hesitating to call security when strangers are about.

 

[Bad_azz]

Well, I mentioned this whole thing to hubby & he says he/his brother/sis in law are happy to consider house/pet sitting work for a fee of course.
Hubby & bro in law are cool with dogs, sis in law is cool with smaller dogs. They're uncomplicated people, give a list of instructions and they will follow them, they don't do dramas.

 

[jstar]

So no guarantees that if I go with the police to get my stuff back that I will get anything back. I had someone speak to the police and they said I could bribe them for help, but I don't really trust them.

There's a saying in Indonesian, which translates freely into that when you report the theft of a chicken to the police, it will cost you a goat.

 

[Nimbus]

You never leave the house unoccupied in Indonesia. Even if you install security measures thieves will find a way around them, or simply break them. Find (and pay) a trustworthy person to guard your belongings. He is worth the money.

As for now, you do the best you can to get your stuff back, bribing cops if necessary. Let this be a lesson learned. Most of us have learned it the hard way.

 

[Wisnu]

Our houses are unocuppied most of the time. Our maid visits every two days fore few hours only.
We don't install any electronic security systems neither steel bars.
We do have soft security systems - be nice and keep good relationship with our neighbors, satpams, tukang Sayur, tukang bubur ayam, and we regularly visit / donation to orphanage house/pesantren in the kampung nearby.
The compound's satpam keep our hoises keys.
More than 15 years ago, we invited them for a farewell before we left the country. They still recognize us.
So far everything are okay.