Police uncover new modus operandi of robbers, burglars

The police have uncovered a new modus operandi of criminals who place cameras at strategic points of a house to monitor the movement of the occupants so as to strike at the opportune moment.

Shah Alam Police chief ACP Shafien Mamat said today the police dismantled six such cameras after crippling a gang of robbers and burglars dubbed ''Picu Itik'' that had been active over the past three months.

"The modus operandi of this gang was to place cameras at the targeted houses, such as on flower vases, to monitor the movement of people for the right time to strike.

"The images captured by these cameras can be viewed on the handphones of the criminals," he said at a press conference at the Shah Alam Police headquarters here.

Shafien said the police had arrested four members of the gang, aged between 24 and 41, in a raid on an apartment in Setia Alam here early on May 5. One member of the gang died after falling from the building, he added.

He said a team of policemen from the Shah Alam Police headquarters raided the apartment on the 11th floor at 2.30am after receiving a tip-off.

A Malaysian man and a Vietnamese woman were arrested while two other people managed to escape through a window, he said.

One of the suspects fell to the ground and was confirmed dead while the other broke into an apartment on the eighth floor through a window, he added.

"The man was arrested at that apartment. Another suspect was arrested in the compound of the building after the police were alerted by a security guard," he said.

He said the police recovered three home-made bombs, 200 false currency notes and several drug processing utensils in the 11th floor apartment.

Shafien said the arrests enabled the police to solve five cases of robbery and housebreaking involving losses amounting to RM100,000 in the Klang Valley.

-- BERNAMA