Cops cripple vehicle theft syndicate
MELAKA: Police have busted a vehicle theft ring, believed to be led by a former religious school student, with the arrest of 13 suspects including the mastermind in operations held in three states.
Melaka police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Jalil Hassan said police got a break in the case after arresting the “Dino Gang” leader at Jalan Kampung Mukim Klebang Besar here on Aug 18 following a tip-off.
He said the 31-year-old suspect was driving a Proton Perdana which was reported stolen in USJ, Selangor, when he was nabbed at 11.45pm that day.
“In the follow-up operations from Aug 21 to Sept 9, we arrested 12 more suspects, including a woman, in raids in Negri Sembilan, Selangor and here,” he told reporters after attending the state police monthly assembly in Bukit Beruang here yesterday.
Melaka CID deputy chief (operational intelligence) Supt Yusharifuddin Mohd Yusop was also present.
DCP Abdul Jalil said the 12 suspects, aged 22 to 70, consisted of the gang members, middlemen and buyers of stolen vehicles.
He said police seized 60 items from the suspects, including six cars and two motorcycles.
“The group is responsible for 17 vehicle theft cases – 10 in Melaka, six in Selangor and one in Negri Sembilan.
“With the arrests, we have solved 14 car thefts and two motorcycle thefts reported in Selangor and Melaka,” he said.
DCP Abdul Jalil said the suspects would be handed over to Selangor police on Oct 1 to help with investigations of the cases there.
He said the group had been active since early this year after the leader, who is from Shah Alam, Selangor, was released from Sungai Buloh Prison.
“The mastermind had been jailed five months for vehicle theft,” he said.
He said the suspect, who completed Form Six at a maahad tahfiz, had eight previous convictions for motorcycle theft and two for drug possession.