Police arrest six suspects, 15 stolen motorcycles recovered

KUCHING: Police recovered 15 stolen motorcycles at various locations in an oil palm plantation at Km21 Sibu-Bintulu Road during a 12-hour operation yesterday.
Sarawak CID chief SAC Dev Kumar M. M. Sree Shanmugam said a team led by ASP Abdullah Tuan Hassan conducted the Ops Lejang raid at 2am yesterday, acting on information gathered since last week.
He said police arrested six men aged between 16 and 21 years old believed to be members of a motorcycle theft group in Sibu, in Sarawak's central region, and of the 15 motorcycles, 13 were reported stolen in Sibu, while two were in Bintulu.
"This is the biggest seizure of stolen motorcycles this year and we believe that we have crippled one of the active motorcycle theft groups in Sibu. I congratulate the Joint Task Force comprising CID Sibu and CID HQ personnel for this success," he said in a statement here today.
The case unfolds last Thursday when a team led by Insp Baharuddin Sabang arrested a 17-year-old unemployed man at a longhouse at Nanga Salim Road at 12pm, and recovered two motorcycles reported stolen just a few hours earlier.
Dev said a follow-up operation was conducted and a second suspect, an unemployed male, aged 16 years old was arrested at a longhouse at Nanga Salim Road, Sibu about two hours later.
"The third suspect, also an unemployed 16-year-old male, was arrested the same day at about 8pm at an unnumbered house at 25th Mile, Sibu-Bintulu Road," he said.
He said two days later, Insp Baharuddin's team arrested the fourth suspect, a 21-year-old auxiliary policeman at an oil palm plantation at Selangau at 3pm.
Dev said later on Sunday another suspect, a 17-year-old odd job labourer was arrested at a longhouse at Bawah Assan, Sibu at about 5pm, and at about 6.39pm, the sixth and final suspect, an unemployed 17-year-old male was arrested in Sibu town.
Dev said investigation revealed that this group had been involved in a string of motorcycle thefts in Sibu and Bintulu early this year, and the motorcycles stolen were sold to foreign oil palm plantation workers. — Bernama