Housebreaking, car theft gang smashed with arrest of five

MIRI (Dec 27): Police here have smashed a housebreaking and vehicle theft gang with the arrest of five men aged between 22 and 35 years during a series of raids recently.

Miri police chief ACP Alexson Naga Chabu said the suspects are believed to be responsible for a number of cases in the district involving losses estimated at RM178,000.

“The first raid took place around 5am on Dec 21 in front of a petrol station at the Bekenu-Sibuti junction where two members of the gang were arrested by CID personnel from the district police headquarters.

“This was followed by the arrest of three more gang members in separate operations, and the recovery of a motorcycle, pickup truck and a saloon car – all believed to be stolen,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the pickup truck was found hidden in a farm in the Bukit Peninjau area in Bekenu; the motorcycle at a unnumbered house along Jalan Bekenu; and the car at an oil palm plantation in Kampung Subak Bekenu.

According to Alexson, the gang’s modus operandi would be to search for homes to break into – usually between 1am and 4am – before escaping with the home owner’s vehicle.

“A urine test on the suspects found four of them to be positive for methamphetamine,” he said, adding all of them have been placed under remand for six days for further investigation.

The case is being investigated under Section 457 and Section 379A of the Penal Code.

Meanwhile, in view of the current festive and school holiday period, Alexson advised those whose homes would be left unattended to fill out a form at the nearest police station so that patrols could be arranged.