Merbin (centre) witnessing the exchange of documents between Maria (left) and Douglas yesterday.
KUCHING: Padawan district police made it a priority to crack down on commercial crimes in areas within its jurisdiction, which also covers Serian and Simujan police districts.
Its deputy police chief DSP Merbin Lisa said this was because a total of 108 such cases were recorded between January and July this year, a marked increase of 61 cases compared to 47 over the same period last year.
“Despite limited manpower, we managed to file 50 charges out of the 108 cases recorded so far this year, which is equivalent to 46.3 per cent. The charging rate exceeds the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of 30 per cent set by the federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department in Bukit Aman.”
He said this at a press conference yesterday after a handover of duties which saw Inspector Douglas Suai Dimbap takie over as Padawan Commercial Crime Division chief from DSP Maria Rasid.
According to Merbin, amongst the commercial crime cases busted by police recently involved a married couple who disguised themselves as Prisons Department officers in an attempt to scam a 40-year-old local man.
The June 18 incident saw the suspects approach the man at Mile 8 Jalan Matang and offer to help secure the release of his son, who is imprisoned.
Merbin said the suspects appeared to know the victim’s background, and deceived him into paying RM1,050 for his son’s release.
Following the transaction, the victim discovered the suspects missing and decided to lodge a police report on Aug 3.
“Acting on a tip-off, a Commercial Crime team from Padawan arrested the suspects at Mile 3. I believe they are being charged in court today (yesterday),” he said.