Alia Azmi, Jakarta – Controlling hectic traffic during morning rush hour is not the only activity keeping the police busy these days. A newly acquired duty is "spike patrol", or clearing main streets of nails that mysteriously appear every morning and cause punctures to tires of passing vehicles.

"We have received complaints through text messages and by direct line that motorists, mostly motorcyclists, found their tires ripped by nails that caused punctures," the head of the patrol unit of the city traffic police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Edi Murbowo, told The Jakarta Post Monday. "Some of them had the same experience many times after passing along a particular road."

For the past month, police using metal detectors have patrolled Jl. Gatot Subroto from the Semanggi cloverleaf in Central Jakarta to Slipi in West Jakarta, an overpass in Permata Hijau, South Jakarta, and Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio, South Jakarta.

Police have also found out that motorcyclists hesitate to take the left lanes of those streets to avoid running the risk of the "spike mines". "We search those streets every morning, finding hundreds of nails of various sizes. But still we find them, even a thousand more of them, the next morning. They could not have just fallen from the sky."

The finger of suspicion is inevitably pointed at the growing number of roadside tire repair services, especially those located near areas where the nails are particularly common.

One of the street tire repairmen, Putra, disavowed any involvement in the practice. "Sometimes I even collect the nails, too," said Putra, who runs his tire repair kiosk near the Permata Hijau overpass. "Police and customers have complained about them and accused me of spreading them." He said he usually served around five motorists each day. "About half of them ask me to repair their tires which have been punctured by nails."

Berry, who runs his repair kiosk at the Ciputat Raya-Pondok Indah crossroad, about a kilometer from the Permata Hijau overpass, also said he would never resort to dirty tricks to get more customers. "Most of the motorcyclists visiting my kiosk only ask me to pump up their tires. I don't care who spread the nails, God knows I don't do that."

Motorcyclist Nur, who works for a publishing company in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, found a nail puncture in a tire after he passed along Jl. Permata Hijau. "It was my first time to find one in my tire. It was this long," he said, holding up his little finger. "I know now that the street is no longer safe for my tires."