Family among gang preying on supermarts
Published on: Sunday, February 18, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: A family of three was among nine people arrested on suspicion of being part of a robbery syndicate that targeted supermarkets, said City Police Chief ACP M. Chandra. One of the supermarkets was robbed three times."Acting on information and previous reports, police raided three houses in Telipok at around 3am last Saturday and arrested the nine.
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"A follow-up raid was conducted at a shop in Tuaran at around 4am the same day, where police detained two Pakistanis who are believed to have bought the stolen goods from the suspects," he told a press conference at IPD Kota Kinabalu, Wednesday.Chandra said of the 11 arrested, a 41-year-old Suluk woman believed to be the mastermind behind the syndicate was detained. He said she had prior convictions, in which she was arrested under Section 380 of the Penal Code in 2007, 2016 and 2017. In addition, he said police also detained a family of three believed to be part of the syndicate, including a 42-year-old Bajau woman who had prior convictions. He said the woman was jailed six months under Section 380 of the Penal Code in 2014 and was also deported in 2015 for not possessing documents but returned.Police also arrested her husband, a 42-year-old Bajau who had prior convictions in 2014, where he was jailed four months under Section 380 of the Penal Code.
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"The couple's 11-year-old son who was not schooling was also detained, believed to have taken part in the robberies," he said.Apart from that, three Bajau men aged 18 to 32, a 36-year-old Bajau woman, a 19-year-old Suluk man who tested positive for drugs and two Pakistani men aged 24 and 48 were also detained during the raid.
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Chandra said eleven suspects in total were arrested and of the figure, four of them were locals with ICs. He said the two Pakistani men had passports that are still being verified while the other five did not have any documents.He said various items including clothes, perfume and electrical items worth RM8,000 were also seized during the raids."The modus operandi for the syndicate is to split into a women's group and a men's group, where the women will go into supermarkets to steal and the men will assist in their escape."The group focused on a specific brand of supermarket, believed to be because of their weak security. Because certain supermarkets do not have security scanners at their counters, the women would usually leave through the payment counters path after robbing the supermarket," he said.Chandra said police received a report from the security guard of a supermarket in Indah Permai, Sepanggar, on Feb 8, which stated that RM900 worth of goods including cosmetic items, lotion and perfume were robbed by a group the day before.In the report, the complainant said there were four women who have stolen the goods and four men assisted in their escape. According to a CCTV footage, one of the women had grabbed the goods off the racks and hid them inside her loose jeans before leaving the supermarket. Chandra added that one of the women had also placed the goods inside a basket and roamed around a supermarket as she consecutively hid them in her clothes. He said police have determined four other cases of theft involving the syndicate, including one in a supermarket in Putrajaya on Feb 4 this year, where the syndicate was a little more aggressive in their approach."A security guard in the supermarket caught one of the women stealing and tried to stop her from escaping. "However, one of the men who was waiting in a van outside got out and threatened the guard with a machete. The security guard, fearing for his life, backed off and the group left with RM638 worth of goods."The syndicate robbed the same supermarket on Nov 11 and 25 last year, causing a loss of RM4,290." he said. In addition, he said the syndicate had also robbed a supermarket in CityMall, Luyang, of RM1,000 on Feb. 2 this year, bringing the total losses for all five cases to around RM7,000.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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