Man arrested after firing homemade gun at nephew’s house in Lawas

MIRI (April 3): A 50-year-old labourer in Lawas was arrested and a homemade firearm along with 10 rounds of ammunition seized after he allegedly fired shots at his nephew’s house in Sundar last Tuesday.

Lawas District police chief DSP Liong Tindan confirmed that the suspect was arrested at his home after the victim lodged a police report last Thursday at 4.26pm.

He said the incident stemmed from a quarrel between the suspect and the victim’s cousin, which was broken up by the victim and another uncle.

“At 10pm on the same night, the suspect was reported to have fired shots at the victim’s house, shattering a bedroom window.

“The victim later encountered the suspect the following day along Sundar Road, where the suspect issued criminal threats, prompting a police report to be filed,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Acting on information received, a police team was deployed to the scene and arrested the suspect.

A search of the premises uncovered a homemade sawn-off shotgun barrel and 10 cartridges of ammunition, which were seized as case exhibits.

DSP Liong added that a check revealed the suspect had four prior offences related to drugs and crime, while a urine screening test also returned a positive result for drugs.

The case is being investigated under Sections 8 and 39 of the Arms Act 1960 and Section 15(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952.

In a separate case, a local man lost RM1,500 after falling victim to an online job scam last Wednesday.

DSP Liong said the victim was approached via a WhatsApp group offering employment at USD2,500 a month.

“The victim was asked to pay for work visa processing and transferred RM1,500, after which the person dealing with him became completely unreachable,” he said.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.