MIRI: Police believe they have crippled a notorious vehicle theft, hijacking and house break-in gang in the city following the arrest of four men, between Jan 4 and 5.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Lim Meng Seah said the suspects, aged between 28 and 40, were arrested separately in the city and Long Lama.
With the arrest, he said police recovered eight stolen vehicles estimated to be worth about RM200,000.
"The vehicles, comprising of two lorries, two Perodua cars, a Toyota Hilux, a Toyota Land Cruiser, a van and a motorcycle, were reported stolen last year in Long Lama and northern Sarawak.
"The rest of the vehicles were intact but the van had been torched after being stripped of all its components." he added.
It was learnt the gang’s last struck on Jan 3 when members hijacked a Toyota Hilux single-cab about 2.30pm in the city.
“After a report was lodged by the victim, police carried out an investigation and managed to track down one suspect on Jan 4.
“Based on infomation gathered, police rounded up the rest of the gang members,” he said, adding that checks showed all the suspects had previous criminal records.
Lim said the gang had been active for more than a year, stealing vehicles in the city and selling them off to buyers in the interior of the state.
"For example, we found out that the stolen Hilux had been sold off for mere RM12,000." he said.
The case are being investigated under Section 394 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt while committing robbery, Section 379A for theft and Section 457 of the same code for break-in.