Some of the seized items.
KOTA KINABALU: Police believe they have solved several cases of cable thefts in and around the city with the arrest of four men recently.
Kota Kinabalu OCPD Asst Comm Zaidi Abdullah said these four men were nabbed in separate raids on April 14.
"In the first raid at a residential area in Telipok near here, our team of policemen had arrested two local men in their 30s at around 5am," he said in a statement, late Saturday (April 15).
He said also seized were silver and brass cables that had been melted and prepared to be sold.
ACP Zaidi said upon initial interrogation, the two suspects led policemen to a house nearby where they sold their stolen cables.
"A Filipino man, who works at the house, was subsequently nabbed," he said.
Later the same day at around noon, police made another raid - this time at some bushy area near Jalan Kebajikan in the city and arrested a Filipino man.
"His accomplice managed to escape and flee from being arrested. We seized several rolls of cut electric cables and tools believed used to steal these wires from this man," said ACP Zaidi.
"We believe with the arrest of these four suspects, a series of cable thefts in this district have been solved," he said.
A manhunt was on for the escaped suspect, he added.
ACP Zaidi said prior to these raids, they had received at least two reports on April 13 and April 14 from a major telecommunications company claiming that their cables had been stolen.
The company mentioned that the cables were stolen from Jalan Kebajikan and Jalan Rampayan Menggatal with losses amounting to RM51,000, he said.
He urged the public to work with the police in solving and preventing crime in Kota Kinabalu.
ACP Zaidi also warned the public against purchasing these stolen cables or they too would face legal consequences.
