Eight Colombians arrested, active in house break-ins

Eight Colombians who target luxury housing and condominiums with a rental car and operating from dusk till night, were caught by the police for house break-in activities around Selangor area.

Selangor deputy police chief Datuk Abd Rahim Jaafar said that the Colombians were from two different groups arrested during two separate police operations on Mar 28 and Apr 1.

"In the first operation at 9pm, a group of police were patrolling around Persiaran Kerjaya, Seksyen U1, Glenmarie, Shah Alam when they saw a group of people in a Toyota Camry acting suspiciously and bearing different registration number on the front and back," Abd Rahim said in a media session at Selangor Contingent Police headquarters, Friday afternoon.

The suspects, aged between 25 to 33 years, saw the policemen and tried to run but were caught not far from the area.

"During the second case on Tuesday, the police were patrolling at a condominium area in Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya and arrested five Colombians aged between 25 to 42-years-old,”.

He said police had received a complaint from a resident on Feb 9 that his house in Kota Kemuning, Seksyen 31, Shah Alam was broken into and valuable items like laptop, iPad and cash stolen.

Based on investigation on the break-in, police were able to seize a car used by the suspects for their robbery like various plate numbers, screwdrivers, machetes, saws, gloves, torch light, scissors, knives, mobile phone and walkie-talkies.

"In addition, we also found items stolen by the suspects like mobile phones, watches, laptops, television and foreign money".

Police investigations also found that suspects were involved in 11 other break-ins since February.

"Six cases in Shah Alam, two in Petaling Jaya, two in Serdang and one case in Subang Jaya while the other group is still under investigation for their cases in Selangor,”.

The suspects are said to be aggressive as they are armed with machetes and target only luxurious homes despite having security guards and barriers.

Meanwhile, 32 Latin Americans were detained by the police for house break-in activities last year as compared to 38 arrested in 2012 and 22 in 2011.

Up until April of this year, eight Latin Americans were arested including from the latest operation.