Eighteen-year-old alleged gang leader among six arrested in Sentul motorcycle theft crackdown

KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Police have crippled a motorcycle theft syndicate known as ‘Geng Hadi’ following the arrest of six local men, including its 18-year-old leader, in a series of raids in Kepong last Saturday, leading to the resolution of eight theft cases in Sentul involving estimated losses of RM20,000.

Sentul deputy police chief Supt Jasni Zolpa said the suspects, aged between 15 and 33, were detained during an operation conducted by the D4 Branch of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Sentul district police headquarters (IPD). 

“The group leader is known as Hadi, while the underage suspect was found to have dropped out of school. All the suspects have previous records related to motorcycle theft cases,” he told a press conference at the Sentul IPD here today. 

He said preliminary investigations had found that the group had been active since early this year and was believed to have carried out multiple motorcycle thefts within the Sentul district before dismantling the stolen vehicles and disposing of evidence.

“The syndicate targeted popular motorcycle models including Honda EX5, Modenas and Yamaha RXZ before stripping the vehicles for parts to be sold to third parties or used by the syndicate members,” he said.

Jasni said the dismantling activities were carried out at an empty store in Kepong, with the stripped motorcycle frames later dumped into a nearby river in an attempt to dispose of evidence. 

He said during the raids, police seized two motorcycles, five incomplete motorcycle frames, one set of motorcycle components and two mobile phones.

According to him, the arrests and seizures enabled police to solve eight motorcycle theft cases reported in Sentul.

All the suspects had been ordered to be remanded for six days from last Sunday to assist investigations under Section 379A of the Penal Code. — Bernama