SIBU: Sarawak police force believed they have crippled a motorcycle theft ring operating actively in Sibu and Bintulu following the arrest of five school dropouts and an auxiliary policeman.
The suspects, aged between 16 and 21, were arrested by a police task force during a four-day operation to nab the group, which ended on Sunday.
State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Datuk Dev Kumar said his men also recovered a total of 17 stolen motorcycles believed to be stolen from areas in Sibu and Bintulu.
Dev said the task force comprising CID officers from the state police and Sibu district police headquarters picked up the trail of the gang following a report lodged by a shop assistant at 9.30am last Thursday.
The shop assistant lodged a police report after he discovered that his Modenas Kriss motorcycle, which was parked in front of a restaurant in Sanyan road here, went missing.
“Acting on the report, the task force was deployed and managed to nab the first suspect, a 17-year-old unemployed youth, at a long house in Nanga Salim Road here three hours later on the same day.
“The task force also recovered two stolen motorcycles including the machine belonging to the shop assistant,” said Dev in a statement today.
On the same day, police detained the second and third suspect, both 16. One of them were picked up at the same long house while the other was detained at an unnumbered house in 25th Mile of Sibu-Bintulu road between 2pm and 8pm.
The auxiliary policeman was apprehended at an oil palm plantation in Selangau near here at 3pm two days later.
“The fifth and last suspect, both 17, were arrested at a long house in Bawang Assan and in town respectively on Sunday,” he said.
The task force, he said, also recovered 15 other stolen motorcycles at an palm oil plantation at KM21 of the Sibu-Bintulu road yesterday.
“This is the biggest seizure of stolen motorcycles this year and we believe that we have crippled one of the active motorcycle theft groups in Sibu.” he said.