Estate supervisor found dead with stab wounds by roadside

Tawau district police chief ACP Peter Umbuas said the victim, a 57-year-old Indonesian man had four stab wounds, three on his head and one on his back.

He said in the 1pm incident the victim was attacked by the 31-year-old male suspect with a machete while they were travelling on a motorcycle.

"The motive of the killing is still unclear as the two were good friends and had never fought," he told a press conference here today.

Peter said police have seized the murder weapon a 50cm long machete, adding that members of the public detained the suspect about 300 metres from the scene and handed him over to the police at about 4pm.

He said the suspect, an Indonesian illegal immigrant who had just started work at the plantation for two months has been remanded for 14 days from yesterday.

In another development Peter said police arrested a man and seized 60 bitcoin mining machines in two raids between 1.30pm and 2pm at a shophouse area in Bandar Sri Indah here, yesterday.

"In the first raid involving SESB (Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd) and Tawau Municipal Council, police seized 40 bitcoin mining machines together with a computer unit but no arrests were made," he said.

He said subsequently police broke into another premises, seized 20 mining machines and arrested the 38-year-old tenant, who admitted he had been stealing electricity for bitcoin mining activities since December last year.

According to Peter electricity theft for bitcoin mining at the two premises had caused SESB to suffer losses of RM31,084 in the past three months, and the case is being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code.