KUALA LUMPUR: Unable to meet the monthly installments or high insurance payments, some Malaysians have resorted to bringing their luxury vehicles into Thailand and selling them off across the border.
Revealing this new phenomenon today, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said this was one method car owners are using to rid themselves of being burdened by the payments.
“Unable to sustain the monthly installments or insurance payment, these owners smuggle their cars into Thailand and sell them to off to certain quarters for quick returns.
“And when banks or insurance companies in Malaysia try to repossess the vehicles, not only do they fail to find these cars, but the owners have also disappeared,” he was quoted as saying in Bernama.
Mohmad said the owners of these luxury vehicles also did not lodge reports on their cars being stolen.
He said police will hold a meeting with banks as well as the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) to tackle this new development on the “disappearance” of these high-end cars.
“I have also instructed my officers to investigate and study this case as this appears to be a new modus operandi altogether,” he said.
Mohmad was speaking to Bernama at the Bangkok Thai police headquarters after receiving 20 luxury cars from Malaysia, recovered by Thai police.
The cars were handed over by Thai deputy police chief Jen Wuthi Liptapallop. Also present was Malaysian ambassador to Thailand Datuk Nazirah Hussain.
Last year, Thai police recovered 75 vehicles reported stolen in Malaysia, but recovered in Thailand. All the vehicles have since been handed over to Malaysian police.
The 20 vehicles handed over to Malaysian police have an estimated value of 20 million baht (approximately RM2.2 million).