Lottery tricksters handed over to Kuching police

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SIBU: Two local men and an Indonesian who were arrested last Wednesday for suspected involvement in lottery scams were handed over to the police in Kuching yesterday.

The trio were caught in a car on Channel Road here at 11.30am after a closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage allegedly showed them committing the crimes.

The suspects were said to have cheated people in Sibu, Miri and Kuching.

Their modus operandi was to tell their victims that the Indonesian man had won a 6D lottery ticket, but could not claim the prize because he was a foreigner.

They then offered a portion of the prize money to their victims if the latter could assist them to claim the prize.

To seal the deal, their victims have to withdraw all their savings in the bank and give it to the Indonesian, who would then bring them to claim the prize – which never happened.

Meanwhile, in another case, a 20-year-old man who has been placed under a seven-day remand (till Dec 27) was suspected to have committed 15 snatching cases.

Police said the suspect, who had acted alone, had been jailed for snatching and was released last October. He was arrested by police at about 9.30pm on Friday, two hours after his failed attempt to relieve a woman of her handbag in Lane 1, Lanang Road, here.

The woman was closing her shop when her handbag was snatched.

In his attempt to flee, the culprit fell from his motorcycle when the strap of the handbag got entangled in the wheel of his bike.

He fled on foot, but was arrested by police at his house in Bukit Assek Road about two hours later and was tested positive for drugs.