PENDANG: Police have busted the ‘Dika Bayu’ gang, believed to be active on theft of telecommunication cables, after arresting seven men 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 here.

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 here on Thursday (July 17).

Rodzi said the modus operandi of the group, all locals in their 20s, 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 records related to theft and drugs. They also tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine.

“All suspects are now remanded for further investigation until July 19,” he said.

Rodzi said with the arrests, police are confident of solving 22 cases of theft of telecommunications substation cables in this district since last January until yesterday.

He added, 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 RM145,000. — Bernama