KOTA KINABALU: Two local men were detained by police for allegedly being involved in the theft of a van that was found in front of the Taising supermarket at Taman Tai Tet, Jalan Tuaran on Aug 11.
City police chief ACP Ahmad Sofi Zakaria said the van was first reported stolen from a courier company at Taman Selesa, Kepayan between August 10 at 8.30pm and Aug 11 at 4.30am.
“Acting on the report lodged by the company and continuous investigation, police managed to arrest one of the suspects at Inanam township on August 19 at around 2am.
“Following the arrest, police recovered numerous items believed to be the goods that were kept inside the van during the incident, at a premises in Inanam,” he told a press conference at the city police headquarters in Karamunsing here, yesterday.
Among the items were 19 travel chargers, four alkaline batteries, three cellphone batteries and nine memory cards.
Sofi said following the first arrest, the police managed to pick up a second suspect, also in Inanam, an hour later the same day.
“After interrogating both suspects, the police recovered other items believed to have been stolen from the van, namely 44 earphones, medicines, three sets of printer toners, a cheque book and some bolts and nuts, hidden in a forest at Jalan Tuaran Lama,” said Sofi, adding that the value of all the stolen items, including the van, amounted to RM150,000.
The suspects, aged 28 and 29, were remanded and will be investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft, Section 411 of the same code for dishonestly receiving stolen property and Section 414 of the same code for assisting in concealment of stolen property, said Sofi.
On Aug 11, a van that was used to transport goods and believed to have been stolen was found at Taman Tai Tet, Jalan Tuaran.
The van, believed to belong to AWC Consolidators Express Sdn Bhd, was stolen from Taman Selesa, Kepayan around 4am.
The stolen vehicle was however found four hours later in front of a warehouse at Taman Tai Tet.
A warehouse worker found the van parked in front of his premises with the side door open, at around 7am.