KEPALA BATAS: Police have detained two men and a woman for driving off with a new Honda Civic 1.8S patrol vehicle (MPV) from the Seberang Prai Utara district police headquarters here last night.
According to a source, the two brothers, aged 28 and 32, who had claimed to be policemen from the information technology resources unit, entered the MPV on the pretext of inspecting its dashcam.
"At the time of the incident, there was a policeman who supervised the MPV on duty.
"The elder brother then proceeded to take the key to the MPV from the rack before leaving a laptop behind.
"The incident happened very fast, with the suspect speeding off with the MPV from the compound of the district police headquarters, without the supervisor, a police sergeant, able to do or suspecting anything," the source said.
It remains unclear as to where the younger brother had gone to during the incident.
The supervisor had only realised something was amiss when the suspect failed to return with the MPV after about 30 minutes.
Police also failed to contact the vehicle through walkie-talkie before they started to track it down.
The source said the MPV was spotted in Shah Alam, about 370km away. Police managed to apprehend the elder brother and a woman in her 20s who is believed to be his girlfriend, inside the vehicle.
Following the arrest of the couple, police also nabbed the younger brother in Tasek Gelugor here this morning to assist into investigations.
"Police found the main suspect had fetched his girlfriend from Tasek Gelugor and tried to rob a sundry shop there before driving off to Shah Alam.
"It is learnt that the suspect stole the MPV as an act of bravado to impress his girlfriend," the source said.
The source also said investigations revealed the main suspect had been detained by police on Oct 15 for electric cable theft.
The siblings have numerous previous criminal record and are hardcore drug addicts. Initial probe also found the elder brother had been diagnosed with mental illness.
Meanwhile, Seberang Prai Utara district police chief Assistant Commissioner Noorzainy Mohd Noor confirmed the incident and said an investigation was underway.
"Police are probing the matter under Section 379A and Section 170 of the Penal Code."
Section 379A is for theft of motor vehicle while Section 170 for impersonating a policeman.
It was reported in August that the Royal Malaysian Police had allocated RM67 million to replace 425 units of new MPV involving Honda Civic 1.8S and Proton X70 models in stages until the middle of last month.
The vehicles would be used in patrol duties to replace the old Proton Waja MPV model which had exceeded the eight-year use limit.