Police bust gang of car thieves, arrest three men

Kota Kinabalu: Three local men from Kota Marudu were arrested within 15 hours of the latest carjacking involving a Toyota Hilux vehicle at Menggatal town on Friday. Acting City Police Chief Supt M. Chandra said acting on a tip-off, a police team detained two men, aged 28 and 26, at a squatter settlement in Jalan Kolam Minintod at about 1.30am on Saturday.

He said their arrests led to the detention of a 30-year-old man who was nabbed at a bus stop in Bandaran Berjaya at about 6.30am the same day, adding that all three men tested positive for drugs.

"The third man has a criminal record. He was arrested for car theft on July 9 and was charged and released on court bail on July 16," he told a media conference at the Karamunsing Police Station, here, Sunday.

"He admitted to committing at least two car theft cases in Asia City and Luyang and we are investigating if they are linked to six other car theft cases involving Toyota Hilux vehicles in the city this year," Chandra said.

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"We believe he was directly involved in the carjacking in Menggatal, while his two accomplices were indirectly involved when they attempted to hide the vehicle from being detected by police," he said.

"Our first action was to mount an 'Ops Tutup' which more or less sealed the city, which could have prompted the culprits to play safe by finding a safe haven to park the vehicle until there was no roadblock," he added.

The vehicle was, however, recovered when a civilian alerted police of a suspicious looking vehicle parked along Jalan Minintod at about 11pm on Friday, prompting a police team to go to the site where they found the vehicle's registration number had been changed.

On Friday, a 29-year-old woman lodged a police report after her Hilux and three sons who were inside the vehicle went missing at the tamu grounds in Menggatal town at about 10.20am on Friday.

It was learnt that the woman left her three sons, aged between 10 and four, in the vehicle with the key in its ignition as she stopped to buy groceries from a stall located some 10 metres away, only to return to find the vehicle and her boys gone.

The boys were reunited with their mother barely an hour later after a civilian saw them at a bus stop some 100 metres from the tamu grounds.

On that note, Chandra reminded the community not to take safety and security for granted.

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"Do not leave your keys in the ignition even if it is just a brief stop to buy grocery or to go to the toilet, because doing so would give those with bad intentions an opportunity to steal your vehicles," he said.

Chandra also thanked the civilian who channelled information to the police and hoped the community would continue to be their eyes and ears.

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