SIBU: Thieves casually walked up and down a church on the first floor of a shop lot in Apollo Road here moving stolen properties onto their car while being watched by members of the public.
Shopkeepers and residents who saw the incident at 1pm thought the church was moving to a new address and that it had called workers to move the properties.
While many were fooled by the daring move of the thieves, one man sensed something ‘fishy’ when he saw tattoos on the bodies of the thieves.
He called a church leader to ask whether they were moving.
When he received a negative reply, he alerted the church leader about a group moving their properties out.
When church members rushed over, it was already too late.
They found the thieves had broken through three doors and gates from the stairs to gain entry into the church hall.
Stolen were an amplifier set, a DVD set, a computer containing church data, wireless microphones and their reception set and others.
The theft cost the church more than RM10,000 in losses.
Church members discovered the thieves had also moved some musical instruments and placed them at the main door and dismantled the sound system set and placed it by the door.
Church members believed the thieves had intended to return.
A report has been lodged.
In an unrelated incident, a man was hospitalised after the motorcycle he was riding rammed into a tree at Mile 14, Oya Road on Monday night.
The man, in his 20s, suffered brain concussion and facial and neck injuries.
He was only one kilometre from his longhouse when the accident occurred at 10pm. A passerby called an ambulance to send him to the hospital where he was admitted.