Gang busted after ‘repossessing’ vehicle

0

Jauteh (left) and CID chief DSP Nor Azizulkifli Mansor with the recovered Ford Ranger and the truck that was used by the theft gang.

KOTA KINABALU: Posing as bank representatives, a vehicle theft gang reportedly stole a Ford Ranger pick-up truck, valued at RM70,000, in broad daylight from their victim’s home at an apartment in Bandar Sierra, near here.

The incident happened on May 19 at around 3 pm, when a group of seven men and a woman, claiming to be representatives of a bank, reportedly repossessed a Ford Ranger for alleged default of hire purchase payment.

With the victim’s name, address, important documents and the vehicle’s key in their hands, the gang were able to dupe the security guard at the apartment entrance gate into allowing them entry. Once inside, the gang loaded the Ford Ranger vehicle onto a truck before fleeing from the scene.

The gang’s modus operandi was made easy as three hours earlier, two of the gang members had broken into the victim’s Perodua Myvi car that was parked at a fast food restaurant in Sepanggar.

The two robbers only took the victim’s handbag, which contained important documents and the spare-key of the Ford Ranger vehicle from the Perodua Myvi car before fleeing the scene.

City police chief, ACP Jauteh Dikun, said following the incident and intensive police investigation, they were able to nab all seven suspects in Putrajaya and Telipok Ria on May 21 around 10 pm.

“Following the arrests, police recovered the stolen Ford Ranger four-wheel-drive vehicle that had been abandoned at the University Apartment that same day,” he told a press conference at the city police headquarters in Karamunsng here yesterday.

According to Jauteh, police investigation showed that the truck used by the gang to steal the Ford Ranger belonged to a company from Sandakan, and that one of the gang member was a driver and an employee of the company.

He said however that police believed that the company was not involved in the case.

“Police believe that this gang has been active for the past couple of months and may have been involved in several vehicle theft cases around the state capital,” he said.

The gang members, aged between 22 and 35 years old, have been remanded for investigation under Section 379 A of the Penal Code, which is punishable with a jail term of up to seven years and a fine on conviction.

Jauteh reminds vehicle owners not to leave any valuable items, including personal documents, inside their vehicles to avoid unwanted incident from happening.