On Friday afternoon, we received a phone call from the local police department. They had recovered some items and asked us to report to the police station to see if any of the things were ours. With our friend Bruce in tow, Heidi and I went to the station, purposely keeping our expectations low. We were quite surprised when we saw our Macbook and the MCC laptop I use for work among the items that had been recovered. The details as to how the police were able to find our stolen computers are still quite sketchy. Apparently, they were able to track phone calls that were made from one of the cell phones, taken from our neighbors. Four men were apprehended at a police security checkpoint. When the police searched their bags, they found our computers, along with our neighbors' laptops. The police suspect the men were taking our computers to a different part of Nepal where they could easily sell them.
Yesterday, we received another call from the police department, asking us to go to the station for a press release. We weren't sure what to expect, but we accompanied our landlord to the station. After a few minutes of waiting, we were ushered into a small room. The four men who are suspected of breaking into our apartment were standing along the wall, handcuffed to one another. Since we didn't realize that we would be meeting these men, Heidi and I had not prepared ourselves for the feelings this meeting brought. The men stood with their heads bowed. Their clothes were dirty and torn. They ranged in age from around 25 to probably close to 60. As reporters asked questions and took their pictures, two of the men began to cry. I had many questions that I could not ask. Do they have families? Why had they chosen this lifestyle? Did they not have other options? Were they just trying to feed their children? Or did they need money for other reasons? Our landlord also peppered them with questions about the burglary. Did the dog bark at them? How did they manage to get up on our balcony? Had they been watching our house? The men answered some questions. They gave their names, stated where they were from. But most of the questions went unanswered. I thought of the restorative justice work I did while in Lancaster and was reminded that most victims of this type of crime, regardless of where the crime happens, have similar questions. And most of our justice systems have not found ways to answer these questions.
Today, I was once again called to the police station. The police needed me to sign the report they were writing. As I waited for the report to be finished, I asked the inspector to fill in some details. He was able to tell me that only one of the men actually entered our apartment. Apparently this man is quite skilled at climbing so he was able to scale up the pipes on the side of our house and get up onto our balcony. I also found out that at least one of the men had watched our house. They knew which room we slept in and which room they could break into. Although I have no way of knowing how accurate these details are, they at least help me to make sense of this event. The details take away some of the mystery, answering at least some of our questions.
We now have to wait two weeks to get our computers back. I think they may have wiped out our hard drives, since the computers weren't working properly when I checked them at the police station. The police suspect that these men sold our other items before they were apprehended, but they are continuing to look for them.
On Friday, as we returned from the police station, we again saw a rainbow in the distance. Another sign of God's faithfulness? Perhaps. The rainbow did remind us of the support we have felt from friends and family during this process. We are also thankful to the police for their work, although we have some reservations about it. We are grateful to have some of our items returned, but we still have too many unanswered questions to call this justice.
