SUCCESSFUL OPERATION: Police personnel putting the motorbikes onto a truck. The police are now determining whether these are stolen properties.
SIBU: The police here walked the talk when they vowed to set higher targets for 2013 in combating the rampant vehicle thefts.
In a six-hour operation on Tuesday beginning at 3pm, Sungai Merah policemen led by their head Sgt Nor stormed an oil palm plantation at Lebaan, a down-stream village about a half-hour drive from Sibu and found 24 motorcycles hidden deep in the plantation.
They seized these machines and took them back in two trucks for further probe.
By the time they arrived here, it was nightfall, but the police were pleased with their efforts.
They suspected these motorcycles could have been stolen in Sarawak before they found their way into the plantation.
The police said half of those seized were new motorcycles, and they were of popular brands targeted by the thieves.
When the police arrived at the plantation at 3pm, they parked their vehicles far from the farm and walked all the way in to avoid attention.
All were normal in the work place, but, when they checked on the plantation, they began to see these machines hidden among the bushes.
The police said it was not time to comment further until they had probed fully.
The police are expected to carry out more operations this year.
They have also been mounting daily roadblocks in town to watch the town’s security.
In a police parade last week, its chief ACP Shafie Ismail said they had resolved to higher target in crime fights after they recorded higher crime rates in the first two weeks of this year.
He said they would review their anti-crime strategies last year, but he wanted his men and officers to move out without delay with a higher anti-crime target and efficiency to release their professional duty.
He said in the first two weeks of 2013, the crime index had climbed up from 29 to a whopping 63.04 per cent. Housebreaking thefts climbed by 25 cases, he said.
The police chief said in the first week of 2013, more than a dozen motorcycles had already been stolen.
On the seventh day alone, he said seven motorcycles were stolen.
“We vow to come down hard on the criminals and make 2013 a bad year for them. I call on the people to work with us,” vowed Shafie.