A mentally challenged youth has been charged with stealing bananas in a case that is likely to draw further criticism of Indonesia's police force, which received international coverage after a teenager was convicted of stealing a pair of sandals from a police officer.

State news agency Antara reported that the young man, Kuatno, 22, from Cilacap in Central Java, had been arrested for the theft of 15 bunches of bananas. Police forwarded the case dossier to prosecutors on Dec. 9, who in turn forwarded the case to the courts on Dec. 23. He is being held in jail at Cilicap Police headquarters.

Kuatno's brother Teguh Sumarno, said he was sure his sibling could not understand his actions "because he is mentally challenged." "He can't read or write, he did not even graduate from elementary school because he could not follow the lessons."

Teguh said the owner of the bananas had already informed the police that he had forgiven Kuatno. Despite this, police were still forging ahead with the case, he said.

Cilacap Police Deputy Chief Comr. Syarif Rahman said on Thursday that they had received no information from the family that the accused was mentally disturbed.