Police Detain 17 Members Of Burglary Gang

News by Bernama
(Source: http://tinyurl.com/kl8rqyp)

20th June 2013

NIBONG TEBAL, Police detained 17 suspects, including school students from three burglary gangs who were actively involved in criminal activities around Seberang Perai Selatan (SPS) here, after carrying out several raids in the area.

SPS police chief Supt Shafien Mamat said those arrested who were aged between 15 and 30, were members of 'Geng Belalang' from Batu Kawan, 'Geng Amirul' from Sungai Bakap and 'Geng Simpang Ampat' of Simpang Ampat.

He said based on intelligence by the task force which was set up two months ago, police managed to locate members of the three groups and detained them around SPS, here, since early this month.

"The task force team was set up following an increasing number of house break-in cases reported in the district and operation carried out resulted in 27 individuals detained, where 17 of them were members of the three gangs while others were buyers of stolen goods from the gangs.

"With their arrest, police believe they have solved 13 cases, where five cases were reported each in Sungai Bakap and Nibong Tebal and three in Simpang Ampat," he told reporters, here, Thursday.

Shafien said police also found items that were stolen by the groups, worth about RM70,000, like television, laptops, handphones, figurines and burglary tools.

He said initial investigations found that the groups were actively involved in house breaking activities since several months ago and their modus operandi was also similar (targetting unoccupied houses, leveraging the door and climbing onto the roof to gain entry).

He said 11 of them tested positive for Syabu while 17 of them were school students. All of them were remanded to assist investigations under Section 457, 411 and 380 of Penal Code.