KOTA KINABALU (ANN/THE STAR) – Kota Kinabalu police said they have arrested two men believed to be responsible for a string of armed robberies including the mugging of a Chinese tourist in the state capital.
Other victims involved include a senior citizen who was out on a jog and a lorry driver last month.
The suspects, both foreign men aged 32 and 45, were arrested in a rented room at Kampung Air at about 11.20am on January 8.
Kota Kinabalu police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zaidi Abdullah said their latest victim was a man who they robbed on a sidewalk at Asia City last December 9.
He said the suspects, who were caught on closed-circuit television camera committing the act, had relieved the man of his mobile phone, identity card and bank cards.
The suspects who had been living in the state capital for four years were also found to be positive for syabu, he added.
“They admitted to selling the mobile phone and that the robbery took place near their rented room,” he said, in a press conference here on Monday.
“We believe the suspects were also involved in three other robberies because their modus operandi was the same which was robbery at knifepoint,” Mohd Zaidi added.
The three earlier cases, he said, involved the Chinese tourist in front of a bank in Jalan Gaya, the senior citizen outside a condominium and the lorry driver at the parking lot in front of a government building.
The victims were not hurt as they did not put up a resistance to the suspects, he said.
The suspects, he said, will sell off the items they robbed from people at a lower price and use the money to fund their drug habits.
“Based on a check, there were seven other robberies in the city last December and we believe they could also have been involved in them.
“For now, our CID division is still probing the matter,” Mohd Zaidi said, adding the suspects have been remanded for a week for investigations.
