Gang stealing 4WD cars busted

KOTA KINABALU: Police busted a gang specialising in stealing four-wheel-drive vehicles and selling them in Sarawak following a series of raids since last month.

The seven-member gang, known as “Gang Gerudi” (Drill Gang) and led by a man who has been placed under the Restricted Resident status, is believed to have stolen at least five such vehicles.

The man, who is from Shah Alam, Selangor, has been serving the two-year confinement order in Beaufort since 2019.

Police got their breakthrough when they arrested the 38-year-old mastermind after the gang stole a Toyota Hilux from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 parking lot here on Feb 28.

Kota Kinabalu city police chief Asst Comm Habibi Manjinji said that led to the discovery of the vehicle and a rented Perodua Axia at a parking lot in a five-star hotel here.

He said three men were arrested together with several master keys and drills believed to have been used to unlock the vehicles and an ECU scanner to override a vehicle security system and jumpstart the engines.

“This was followed with the arrest of three more men at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport domestic arrival hall where we seized a second rented vehicle, ” he said yesterday.

ACP Habibi said that on March 2 police arrested a sacked Pos Malaysia worker at a coffee shop in Damai and found 18 road tax stickers, 11 of which had registration numbers printed on them.