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Indonesian Thief Accidentally Sells Stolen Motorcycle Back to Its Original Owner

Police were waiting for him at the spot where he was supposed to meet the owner.
JP
translated by Jade Poa
indonesian motorycle thief sells to owner
Illustration by Bobby Satya Ramadhan.

This article originally appeared on VICE Indonesia.

Some thieves just aren’t the brightest. Rian Hidayat, a motorcycle thief from the Indonesian city of Palembang, South Sumatra, listed a motorcycle he stole on the Facebook marketplace to make a quick buck. What he didn’t consider was that the guy he stole it from might see his post.

Andika, the motorcycle’s original owner who goes by one name, began browsing the internet in an attempt to catch the thief selling his property. It didn’t take long for him to find his motorcycle on the Facebook marketplace, after which he decided it was payback time.

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After asking the police to accompany him on his rendezvous to “buy” the motorcycle from Hidayat, Andika agreed to meet the thief on a bridge three days after it was stolen. Andhika had worked with the police to ensure the motorcycle on Facebook was indeed his, as identified by the rims and shocks in the Facebook photos.

When Hidayat showed up at the bridge, he was greeted by a group of cops, handcuffs at the ready. He was immediately detained for allegedly selling stolen goods on Facebook.

“We detained Hidayat while he was waiting for the owner of the motorcycle. Hidayat admitted to having acquired the stolen motorcycle from his accomplice, identified only by the name Iyan,” Yenni Diarty, head of local police, told CNN Indonesia.

In July 2019, a similar incident occurred in North Sumatra, in which another motorcycle thief, Anggi, who also goes by one name, listed his loot on an online marketplace. The man he stole it from saw the listing and also decided to pretend to be an interested buyer and set up a meeting.

Unlike Andhika, who called the police, Simamora instead took matters into his own hands and enlisted his friends to beat Anggi up in a display of vigilantism. When they were through with Anggi, they handed him over to the police.

Stealing someone else’s property is one thing, but publicly listing the stolen goods in a local marketplace before the dust settles? They definitely had it coming.