Police personnel escort the theft gang members to the police station.
MIRI: Police have crippled three gangs actively involved in stealing bird’s nests from farmhouses in the city, Bekenu and Batu Niah, with the arrest of eight individuals.
District police chief ACP Lim Meng Seah said with the arrests, police have solved 18 cases perpetrated by the gangs – colloquially known as Geng John, Geng Boy and Geng Billy.
In a statement yesterday, he revealed that the first arrest was made at 5.30pm on Sunday at Kampung Sealine Atas in Lutong when police picked up a 27-year-old man.
This was followed by the arrest of a 31-year-old man at a house in Prominjaya the same night, where police also confiscated a closed-circuit television (CCTV) recorder, adapter and optical mouse.
“The third suspect, aged 24, was nabbed in Desa Indah 3 in Permyjaya around 11.10pm the same day, while the fourth and fifth suspects were caught in Kampung Sealine Lutong at 11.50pm,” said Lim.
The operation, he added, continued Monday night until early yesterday during which three more men, aged 20, 21 and 36, were rounded up in Kampung Senadin Jaya and Jalan Lutong.
“Members of these three gangs were behind 18 cases of bird’s nest theft in Kuala Baram, the Naim area here, Pujut, the city centre, Lambir, Bekenu and Batu Niah, and have been active since 2018.
“We have also established that they were involved in similar crimes in Bintulu, Sibu and Sarikei,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lim said police are still determining if any of the three gangs were responsible for a heist at a bird’s nest farmhouse here on April 20 which resulted in losses amounting to RM80,000.
During the incident, a CCTV recorder at the farmhouse was also stolen.
Police have classified their investigation under Section 457 of the Penal Code for theft.