KUALA NERANG: Police have arrested three men believed to be involved in the theft and sale of telecommunications substation components at two different locations in Kampung Musa, Mukim Pedu near here on Sept 30.
Padang Terap OCPD Supt Abdull Razak Othman said the first arrest involved a 37-year-old former telecommunications company technician in Pendang.
"The arrest was made following two police reports received by the telecommunications company involved. over the theft of communication components involving a loss of approximately RM112,000, which is suspected to have occurred at around 5pm on Sept 30.
"The suspect, who is married with two children, was detained for further investigation after his house was raided by police at 12.30am on Oct 1," he told reporters here on Thursday (Oct 9).
He said the police then successfully detained two other suspects, aged 31 and 51, who are suspected of being regular buyers of stolen goods at two separate locations in Alor Setar.
Supt Razak said police also seized equipment from the first suspect's house believed to have been used in committing the thefts.
He said a urine test on the first suspect came back positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine, and the man was found to have three previous drug offences on his record.
"This (theft) is believed to have been carried out over the past two years.
"The main suspect's modus operandi was to target out-of-sight substations and commit the crime in the early morning to avoid detection," he added.
With the arrests, police believe they have solved 21 cases of substation component theft in Padang Terap, Yan, Pendang and Kota Setar, involving total losses of more than RM600,000.
Supt Razak said the suspects are being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft.
He urged anyone with information on the crimes to provide information by contacting the nearest police station or via the Volunteer Smartphone Patrol (VSP) application. – Bernama
