Police arrest seven suspects involved in micro chip theft worth RM80,000

Police detained seven suspects believed to have been involved in the robbery of Central Processing unit (CPU) micro chips worth more than RM80,000 at a factory in Bayan Lepas, last Thursday.

Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi said the seven suspects, aged between 22 and 32, were believed to have been involved in three similar robberies since mid-2012.

"In the latest robbery, 315 CPU units worth RM254 each were reported missing from the said factory," he told reporters today.

Abdul Rahim said following the robbery, police detained a suspect in Alor Setar, Kedah at about 3.30pm before rounding up six others in Kedah and Penang after carrying out separate raids.

He said six of the suspects worked as security guards in the factory while the seventh suspect acted as the middleman to sell the stolen items.

Abdul Rahim said police managed to recover 84 of the stolen CPU units plus RM5,320 cash.

None of the suspects had previous criminal records, he said.