What a scream — robbers flee with just a phone
KUCHING: Three robbers were only able to escape with a mobile phone after they were foiled by the elderly house owner’s shouts for help early yesterday.
The 3.30am incident took place when the intruders entered the compound of the double-storey house along Jalan Tun Abdul Rahman Yaakub in Petra Jaya and used a ladder belonging to the house owner to scale onto the upper floor.
They then entered a room via an open window and grabbed hold of the family’s maid before tying her hands with a radio’s wire and forcing her to lead them to her employer’s bedroom.
District police chief ACP Abang Ahmad Abang Julai, who confirmed having received a report of the incident, said the 70-yearold female house owner woke up after hearing her maid knocking on her door and calling out to her.
“Upon opening the door, she was shocked to see three strangers standing there holding a knife against her bound maid.
“The house owner reacted to the sight by screaming to her son-inlaw for help, causing the robbers to run downstairs and flee through the kitchen door,” he said when contacted.
Abang Ahmad added that no injuries were reported during the incident, and that the only item taken by the suspects was an RM250 mobile phone belonging to the maid.
“The knife used in the robbery was found discarded at the rear of the house. Forensics personnel have recovered the weapon for further analysis,” he said, while disclosing that initial investigation pointed to the suspects being locals.
In a separate case, three men are suspected to have made off with about RM4,500 worth of cash and other items after robbing a grocery store at Muara Tabuan around 9.30pm on Friday.
It is said that the three entered the premises pretending to buy a bottled drink before confronting the two workers behind the counter with a knife.
According to Abang Ahmad, they forced one of the workers to empty the cash register and the other to surrender the laptop computer behind the counter to them.
“All three fled from the store inside a white car. They also took a bottled drink with them,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Sections 395 and 397 of the Penal Code.