Police arrest three Iranian nationals for allegedly stealing IDR 8 million from store using hypnotism
Police in Bali’s Tabanan regency have arrested three Iranian nationals who stand accused of having committed thievery by using hypnotism.
“The suspects committed their crime by hypnotizing their victim. [This happened] on Sunday, 28 July,” said I Made Prama from the Tabanan Police, as reported by state news agency Antara.
The suspects, identified by their initials RGP (26), SAM (49) and RH (25), allegedly committed the crime together at a shop located in the Baturiti sub-district of Tabanan. The act was reportedly captured on a surveillance camera.
The shopkeeper, identified as Ni Made Putri Artyani, said she did not suspect anything of her foreign customers when they entered her shop. Putri said they bought a bag of garlic and gave her IDR 120,000 (USD 8.56) to make the payment. She gave them back IDR 70,000 and took IDR 50,000 for the goods.
Afterwards, RGP allegedly asked Putri about the largest bank note in Indonesia. Putri wasn’t able to reply to him in English, so she took an IDR 100,000 bank note from the cash drawer to show him.
“I remember the tourist wagged the money and after that I don’t remember anything else. I only knew what happened after I saw the surveillance camera,” Putri said.
She claims she only regained awareness of her surroundings when a driver, who came by for delivery, tapped her on the shoulder. When she went to check the cash drawer, she found that it was missing around IDR 8 million (USD 570).
“I reported this matter to my boss immediately, who then reported it to the police in Baturiti,” Putri added.
Police were able to track the three suspects down by the car they had been using on Sunday and immediately arrested them.
Many Indonesians believe that hypnosis is commonly used by thieves and news stories about alleged victims of hypnosis robbery are not uncommon, including in Bali.
