German who lost his belongings praises police for helping him
SIBU: A lone German rider who lost his belongings when his luggage was ransacked by a thief last week has good words for the police here though what he lost may never be recovered.
Achim Hegel, 60, said he was particularly impressed with the commitment and kind gesture of detective sergeant K. Manogaran who had helped him since day one.
“I do not want to say that my stuff was stolen from my motorcycle; for me, it’s fine, that is not important. What is important is that the police here especially the sergeant took my case very seriously. I am impressed. I mean, for me, my case was nothing and yet he helped me despite it was his day- off,” he told reporters when met yesterday.
Hegel, a former police officer for 30 years in Germany, travels everywhere on his motorcycle. About a year and a half ago, he started his ride around South East Asia.
The motorcycle has become his ‘ room’ because he packed and stripped his luggage on it. Hegel seldom takes the luggage to the hotel room because he will need about two hours to unpack.
On March 18, he put up at a budget hotel in Central Road here. Four days later, a hotel staffer told him somebody had ransacked his luggage on the bike. Hegel had parked his motorcycle at a motorcycle parking space which was about 20 metres from the hotel.
“I found out later my vehicle’s spare parts, blood pressure machines and some other items had been stolen. Luckily, my sleeping bag and tent were not taken.
“I estimate my loss at US$ 300,” he said.
Hegel later went to buy items like spare parts, tools and other things that were essential to him.
“The problem is the strap was cut,” he lamented.
A member of the public advised him to lodge a police report, but he hesitated, thinking it was not necessary. In the end, he lodged a report anyway.
Sgt K Manogaran came to the aid of Hegel despite being off duty.
“When we met, I showed him my motorcycle and he started his investigation. We watched the CCTV footage for at least three hours,” he recalled, saying the sergeant spent more than a half day to help him.
From the footage, Manogaran believed that the suspect was around 18 years old, and told Hegel the police would do their best to trace and arrest the suspect.
“Actually, I hesitated to go to the police because I knew they had more important things to do,” Hegel said.
He remarked that it was not the first time the police in Malaysia had shown great friendliness and commitment to help him.
“The first time was in Klang when I needed the direction to go to Sabah and Sarawak.
“I met two policemen – luckily one of them could speak English. He told me to wait and I waited. He returned in a short while and brought me to the Customs for the purpose of transporting my motorcycle to Sabah through cargo.
“They told me I had to book a flight ticket to go to Sabah because the cargo was only to transport items.”
Hegel said he had been to many countries and the police in most countries were not that helpful to tourists.
“I travel a lot and everywhere I go, people are all the same; yes, people are friendly but I never found people so friendly like the police (whom) I met in Malaysia. You cannot find people like that.
“If I go home, these are the stories I will tell my friends and family. I will tell them about this country.” Hegel prefers to travel alone. “And with my bike, I can go into jungle, to longhouses. I carry along my tent and I can sleep anywhere, even in the mountain.”
For this South East Asia trip, he started his journey from Thailand in October 2016 and reached Malaysia on Dec 2, before continuing to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and so on.
He leaves for Kuching today.