GEORGE TOWN: Penang police have successfully crippled two motorcycle theft gangs operating in the northeast district here.
Northeast district police chief Superintendent Anuar Omar said police have arrested five of the gang members aged between 19 to 21.
He said the arrested members led the police to three locations, a house in Tasek Gelugor, Sungai Kereh and Sungai Jarak Tasek Gelugor, where 47 motorcycle frames were found.
Anuar said police had traced eight motorcycle frames to previous theft case and were investigating the remaining 39 frames.
"The gang had scraped the chassis number of the motorcycles, making the identification of the motorcycles difficult," he said.
He said one of the gang members arrested had a previous motorcycle theft record and admitted to stealing a few motorcycle with another gang member since January.
"One of the men is the middle man and the other two were buyers, who later dismantle the spare parts before selling them," he said, adding that three of the suspects were unemployed, while another two worked in factories.
Anuar added that all five have been remanded until tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Anuar said police also successfully crippled another motorcycle theft gang known.
"This is a two-member gang. The two men, aged 21 and 23, were arrested at their respective houses at Tasek Gelugor.
"The suspects admitted to stealing motorcycles at the Northeast district and led us to six motorcycle frames dumped in Sungai Datuk Keramat in Tasek Gelugor," he said.
He said three of the motorcycle frames have been traced to previous motorcycle theft cases and three more were being analysed.