Three men detained for stealing, modifying 12 lorries - Bukit Aman

RAWANG: The Royal Malaysia Police has detained three male suspects who are believed to be members of a syndicate that specialises in stealing and modifying large lorries.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan said this followed the discovery of 12 large lorries which were estimated to be valued at RM2.8 million.

The syndicate is believed to be operating at a secluded warehouse along Jalan Batu Arang, near here on Sept 18.

All the suspects are locals aged between 39 and 41, and they were detained in Shah Alam, Rawang and Bestari Jaya, Selangor

Abd Jalil Hassan said their modus operandi would be to steal the lorries and along the way they would throw away the global positioning tracker (GPS) and then find a buyer.

He said after doing that, the suspects would modify the chassis and engine number of the vehicles with a different number for their own personal use and sold to third parties.

"After modifying the stolen lorries, the syndicate would sell each lorry for between RM20,000 and RM30,000. In fact, they had even sold the stolen lorries for as low as RM7,000," he said at a press conference.

Abd Jalil advised the public to be careful when approached on cheap used lorries for sale as they could be stolen.

"In the operation, we also confiscated the contents of a lorry filled with 'Shopee' consignment items which were reported missing.

"We also found a forklift, two engine blocks with the chassis and engine numbers tampered," he said.

Abdul Jalil said police had received reports of three missing lorries, two of them in under the jurisdiction of Subang Jaya district police headquarters and one at Klang Selatan district police headquarters.

He also said police were now checking and identifying the involvements other syndicate members.

On the suspects, Abd Jalil said all of them had various past criminal records including drug abuse.

"The arrests and confiscated booty are part of a syndicate which operates in the Klang Valley and police are still hunting for the remnant members of the syndicate.

"Our success is because members of the public came forward with information about suspicious and dubious characters who offered to sell lorries at extremely low prices," he said.

He said the police welcomed any information from the public if they came across the same situation.

"The public is advised to call investigating officer ASP Md Norsham Yunus at 019-2905965," he said and added that the case is being investigated under Section 379A of the Penal Code and Section 29(1) of the Minor Offences Act 1955.

-- BERNAMA