“We acquired information that the lost items were taken by a number of employees [at the grocery store], who stole the items when the store was quiet,” Sukawati Police said in a statement, adding that they used surveillance cameras in their investigation. 

Police launched an investigation into the matter after receiving a report from I Made Darmadi, who works as a manager at the Swalayan Bagus Supermarket in Sukawati. Darmadi noticed that some of the items at the store had gone missing after conducting an audit, therefore prompting him to get help from authorities. 

According to a report by Tribun-Bali, the grocery store employs a total of 50 people, 12 of whom were found to have been stealing items from the store since about four months ago. Only four were detained by authorities, while the others are expected to regularly report to the police every Monday and Thursday. 

“Based on footage from the surveillance cameras, it is found that the items are stolen by 12 employees. The store has been up and running for about a year, and the theft began since about four months ago,” Gusti Ngurah Jaya Winangun from the Sukawati Police told Tribun-Bali yesterday.

Winangun explained that the four women are detained because they have stolen more than IDR2 million (US$141) worth of items each, while the others had stolen less than that amount.

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