KOTA KINABALU: The police have detained 12 people, including a woman, in connection with the four-wheel-drive (4WD) and saloon car smuggling syndicates in Sabah, revealed Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference here yesterday, Jalaluddin said the suspects, all locals aged between 13 and 55, had been remanded to facilitate investigation under Section 379 A of the Penal Code for motor vehicle theft.
He said the police had so far seized six vehicles from two raids between February 4 and February 9.
In the first operation, the police arrested seven people, including a woman, at an unnumbered house at Kampung Kivatu in Penampang, on February 4.
The police also confiscated five vehicles – two Proton Wiras, a Proton Saga BLM, a Proton Satria and a Toyota Hilux 4WD.
Five days later, on February 9, the police arrested five men around Penampang and Kota Kinabalu and confiscated a Proton Wira, he said.
Jalaluddin added a special task force had been set up by the police and the Sabah police were working closely with their counterparts in Sarawak to nab the vehicle thieves.
He said police investigation believed most of the vehicles were stolen from Sabah and smuggled to Long Bawan, north Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The Borneo Post yesterday reported that police crippled a four-wheel-drive vehicle smuggling syndicate in Sabah with the arrest of six suspects, including a woman.
Deputy Home Minister Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told the daily that a suspect had admitted he was the ‘runner’ who drove stolen 4WD vehicles from Sabah to Long Bawan, Kalimantan. The suspect even admitted getting paid between RM500 and RM1,000 per vehicle.
He also disclosed that Sabah police found nine stolen 4WD vehicles, but the engines and chassis numbers had been tampered with.
The police forensics unit has been summoned to ascertain the original chassis numbers of these vehicles even though their owners have identified the vehicles as theirs, he said, adding the government had agreed to extent the anti-smuggling unit (UPP) to Sarawak and Sabah to address smuggling issues in both states.