ACP Zaidi (centre) showing media the stolen vehicles.
KOTA KINABALU: Two of three men who allegedly went on a stealing spree around the country have been nabbed by the police.
The two unemployed locals, aged 36 and 39 years old, respectively, were arrested at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport at around 8.20pm on Wednesday (March 15), while their accomplice, a 37-year-old, is on the run.
Kota Kinabalu OCPD Asst Comm Zaidi Abdullah said with their arrest, police have cracked at least seven theft cases in Sabah and Selangor that were committed recently.
He said the suspects’ latest spree in the city was believed to have been on March 8, at around 4.20am, where they allegedly broke into a vehicle showroom along Jalan Lintas Kepayan and fled with two four-wheel-drive vehicles.
“The suspects were believed to have broken the glass panes of the showroom, went in and grabbed a bunch of keys before fleeing with two vehicles,” he said at a press conference at the Kota Kinabalu Police Headquarters, Saturday (March 17).
ACP Zaidi said the suspects managed to sell one of the vehicles for RM10,000 to a local salesman, while they hid the other stolen car behind a supermarket in Menggatal, not far from the state capital.
He said the two suspects went to Selangor after that and had committed at least three house break-ins and thefts before returning to Sabah on March 15, where they were nabbed.
“It is learnt that they had committed at least a few more thefts in several districts here including in Keningau prior to this,” he said.
ACP Zaidi said the suspects, both of whom tested positive for methamphetamine, had at least 18 previous convictions including drug and break-in offences.
“They have been working as a team together with the third suspect on the run,” he said, adding that the two arrested suspects are from Tuaran and Papar while the accomplice is from Darau, Menggatal.
He said the two nabbed suspects had previously been under police supervision in Penang and Perak for two years.
ACP Zaidi said apart from the two suspects, the vehicle buyer has also been brought in to facilitate investigations to find out how far into these crimes he is involved in.
Losses incurred in the showroom theft amounted to RM360,000 while the total losses from other recent cases were still being investigated, he said.
“We are working with our counterparts in the peninsula and other districts to work on this case,” he said.
All suspects have been remanded until March 20.
