Police cripple syndicate stealing clothes with arrest of foreigners

PETALING JAYA - Police have crippled a syndicate specialising in stealing clothes following the arrest of 12 individuals including 11 foreigners in raids at two budget hotels in the city centre last Oct 3 and 4.

Petaling Jaya district police chief, ACP Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid said the syndicate used special bags brought from their home country to prevent the alarm in the clothing stores from going off.

"The stolen goods would be sent to their home country using courier services to be sold. The syndicate moved in groups when stealing and they would move from one hotel to another to cover their tracks,” he said at a press conference at the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters today.

Mohamad Fakhrudin said the police investigation found that the syndicate managed to send 210 kilogrammes of packages containing clothes to their country of origin this year using courier services.

He said the 11 foreigners comprising three males and eight females, aged between 26 and 47 years, had been coming to Malaysia three times as tourists.

"Also arrested is a 51-year-old local man who acted as the driver who would take the syndicate members to their targeted locations.

"Our investigation found that the syndicate had been actively stealing clothes from 17 supermarkets around Klang Valley since March this year and with the arrests, we managed to solve seven cases in Petaling Jaya.

"All those arrested are being remanded until Oct 22," he added. - BERNAMA