No lead on robbery yet

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REMANDED: Two of the employees being escorted by police to the lockup to facilitate investigation into the robbery case.

Police form special team to solve RM1.3 mln heist, detain company’s workers to help in probe

BELURU: The police have yet to establish any lead in their investigation on the RM1.3 million robbery in Baram on Tuesday but they have detained four employees of the company to facilitate their investigations.

The four, three Indian nationals and a local from Mukah, had said they were robbed of RM1.35 million at KM 8 Beluru-Lapok Road at about 3.10pm on Tuesday, and they lodged a report at Beluru police station about two hours later.

They were later detained at 9.30pm at the station and sent to Miri Central Police Station to be detained overnight.

Yesterday morning, they were sent to Marudi to be produced in court where they were ordered to be remanded for four days to facilitate investigations.

Baram OCPD DSP Abu Bakar Mokhtar, when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday, confirmed that the four would be remanded until all of them had given their statements.

When asked whether they already had leads on the incident, Abu Bakar said: “We are still in the early process of investigating and definitely will be looking into all angles. At the moment, we are yet to have any clue,” he said.

He added that several police officers from Bukit Aman would come to help them investigate and track down the robbers who were still at large.

“In the meantime, we will gather detailed information, including a check on the victims’ mobile phones to know who they got in touch with before the incident.

“Apart from that, we are going to form a special team today (yesterday) to investigate this matter,” he added.

Abu Bakar further explained that it was not the first time that the men had carried a large sum of money to the location.

“Perhaps it was not a lucky day for the four on that day,” he said.

The employee who lodged the report is an Indian national and a consultant of a multi-national oil and gas contractor, while two other Indian nationals are a cook and mechanic. The local is the driver.

It is also understood that the four victims did not seek police escort when carrying the large sum of cash to the location.

On Tuesday, the group of four were on their way to Camp 8 in Tinjar, Baram from Camp 6 in Bintulu with the company’s payroll when a group of about seven masked men hit and overtook their blue Toyota Hilux and took away the money.

The robbers in a silver Mitsubishi Triton 4WD vehicle alighted from their vehicle and pointed two shotguns at them, forcing them to let go the cash.

They were, however, left unhurt.