PENDANG (BERNAMA) – Police have busted the ‘Dika Bayu’ gang, which is believed to be an active gang on theft of telecommunication substation cables, after arresting seven men in their 20s in this district and Sungai Petani in Malaysia since July 10.

Pendang police chief Supt Rodzi Hassan said police first arrested three men when they were spotted climbing and cutting cables at 5.50pm at a substation near Pokok Tai, Bukit Jenun.

He said police were then led to a homestay in Taman Sinar Intan, Sungai Petani and arrested another suspect after an inspection found tools for cable theft.

“On July 13, police managed to arrest two more men by the roadside of Jalan Aman Jaya in Sungai Petani who are believed to be members of the same gang and another man suspected as ‘fencer’ for buying processed copper from the gang,” he said in a press conference on Thursday.

Rodzi said the modus operandi of the group, all locals, was to rent boarding houses and use rented cars to carry out the criminal activity to feed their drug habits.

“Investigations found that this gang would survey the location of the substation via Google Map and find a way into the substation area. They used safety vests and helmets as disguise to distract the public,” he said.

He said that all those arrested had past records related to theft and drugs and in urine screening, all tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine.

“All suspects are now remanded for further investigation until July 19 according to Section 379 of the Penal Code,” he said. He said that with the arrest of all these suspects, police are confident of solving 22 cases of theft of telecommunications substation cables in this district since last January until July 17.

According to him, apart from Pendang, the suspects admitted to carrying out cable theft in the Sik, Yan, Alor Setar, Sungai Petani and Penaga districts in Penang, which involved losses estimated at MYR145,000.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin