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GEORGE TOWN – Police crippled a gang involved in the alleged theft of Telekom Malaysia (TM) cables worth RM910,448 in Penang and Kedah after arresting a subcontractor appointed by the company along with 13 of his employees.
Penang police chief Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said, acting on information received and intelligence gathered, police carried out an inspection at the Jalan Tanjung Bungah-Jalan Bunga Park traffic light junction at 2.40am on January 10.
“A few days before that, the company (TM) received a complaint that some areas around Tanjung Bungah were experiencing internet disruption suspected to be caused by cable theft before it was reported to police.
“We then conducted an inspection and found 11 men cutting and removing underground cables there, but they failed to show documents to carry out the work there,” he said at a press conference here today.
He said police then arrested eight individuals, including a woman, in several locations around Sg Petani, Kedah on the same day, of which three men were employees of the subcontractor and the other five being purchasers of the syndicate’s stolen cables.
Shuhaily said following the arrests, police managed to solve 27 cases of cable theft – 17 in Penang and 10 in Kedah.
“All those arrested were aged between 27 and 47, and urine tests found seven of them positive for drugs, while 14 of the 19 individuals arrested had between two to 12 criminal records each,” he said.
According to him, police confiscated four vehicles including a lorry, 65 TM cables, 14 mobile phones, 12 street cones, machetes, pipe cutters, iron cutters, axes, and various items believed to be used for cable theft activities, all of which were worth close to RM150,000.
“All of them are now remanded to assist the investigation and the case is being investigated according to Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft,” he said. – Bernama, January 16, 2023