GEORGE TOWN: Penang police have set up a special team to hunt down the ‘’Rantau Gang’’ that has been actively involved in house break-ins in the state earlier this month, resulting in a loss of RM380,000.
State Police Chief Datuk T. Narenasagaran (pix) said the special task force was carrying out intelligence and surveillance in identifying and detecting gang members believed to be foreigners and living in the jungle.
He said to date, police have received six police reports of burglary cases in each of the three Northeast districts involving losses of RM300,000 and the Southwest district involving RM80,000.
“The gang’s criminal activity was detected in the Northeast earlier this month before they relocated to the Southwest earlier this week by targeting luxury homes such as bungalows and we have also received reports of victims whose homes they were trying to break into,“ he said.
He was speaking to reporters after witnessing the appointment ceremony of the new Penang Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department (JPJKK) chief SAC Zundin Mahmood who replaced Datuk Mohamad Anil Shah Abdullah.
Narenasegaran said most of the victims involved comprised traders and businessmen as well as a female senior citizen in Pulau Balik, who was injured in a house-break-in incident early this morning.
He said the 75-year-old was injured with a knife after she screamed for help after she went downstairs and found four men in the kitchen in the 3am incident today.
“The modus operandi of the six cases is the same where the gang will break through the back door before entering and ordering victims to the living room and they will be tied up. The suspects comprising four men wearing face masks and gloves would ransack the house before fleeing with cash and various valuables, “he said.
He said all the incidents took place early in the morning and police had not ruled out the possibility that the “Rantau Gang’’ was part of a network that police had previously crippled after a member was released after serving a jail term.
“Apart from obtaining the information and description of the suspects at the scene and from the victims, police also obtained information from members of the ‘’Rantau Gang’’ who are currently serving a jail term so that we can identify those who committed the break-ins,“ he said.
He said police also believed the gang leader was knowledgeable and familiar with the area where they had committed house break-ins. — Bernama
