Tourism Crime
Stop and steal: Thieves prey on tourists in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (eTN) - Malaysian police and the Malaysian Association of Hotels have joined forces to track down gangs of organized foreign thieves who have been preying on guests at top hotels over the last few years.
Alarmed at the damage it is causing the country's tourism industry, a hotelier said, "We need more cooperation within the industry and the police."
Believed to be foreigners from Colombia, Peru, the Philippines and the Middle East, police confirmed at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the gangs have been operating in the Malaysian capital as well as Penang and Johor Baru.
In the latest publicized case, a gang of organized thieves, believed to be Peruvians, was caught on a hotel CCTV footage committing their act by distracting their victims at the check-in desk as other gang members run-off with the victim's luggage right from the hotel lobby. "It was executed right under the noses of the victims, hotel staff and security officers."
Authorities believe the gang trailed their victims from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport right to the hotel.
Police also believe that the gangs may not only have local links to dispose off their loot, but international links as well to receive tip offs from on their intended victims.
Other modus operandi by the thieves include impersonating Interpol officers, and sleight of hand tactics under the pretext of changing into smaller currencies.
According to the police, there have been 16 cases of pickpockets and 27 cases of hotel thefts.
Dismissing the incidents as yet “not worrying,” Kuala Lumpur CID chief Assistant Commissioner Ku Chin Wah said, the police are facing difficulty in solving such cases due to the victims not willing to lodge a police report and be present in court to give evidence.
"On many occasions, " added Ku, "the culprits were caught during failed attempts. But we can only charge them for trespassing in hotel premises."
Admitting that the situation requires closer cooperation between the police and hoteliers, Ku said, "If we get any information, we will send out an alert to hoteliers."
Comments
thieves are in all parts of the world, but i was surprised that these thieves in malaysia are gangs of foreign thieves from colombia, peru and the middle east,
but filipino thieves in malaysia don't surprise me at all lol, its weird because i am from colombia and i didn't even know that there were colombians and peruvians in malaysia, and you would think even if there were they would probably be tourist and not thieves, very weird, how do colombians and peruvians get the money in the first place to come down to malaysia and live there, you would think that they would be rich tourists or immigrants not dirty thieves, the thieves in colombia and peru never leave colombia or peru because they are not rich but for them to go live in malaysia is big surprise for me.
sometimes malaysia (yeah, its my country) can be dangerous if you dont be careful - especially in main town here such as johor bahru and kuala lumpur.
Definitely not News to me ! Some thieves broke into my room at Park Royal in Kuala Lumpur - definitely an inside job since my room was locked and I was down at their restaurant for breakfast (located in the basement) at 6am and when I took the elevator back to my room - upon arriving at my floor - 2 guys ran out of my room. I even wrote a letter to their head office (in Singapore) but they just ignored me.
Loosing your items in the luggage is a common occurance while transiting in KLIA . The best advise, avoid flying into KLIA unless you have no other alternative. Since September 11, we were told not to lock our luggage because of security concerned.This give whoever handling our luggage in transit plenty of opportunity to steal. How many lost reports filed get an answer from the carrier concerned - 1%. ????The so called "Low Cost Carriers Terminal" will be a better alternative if you have to fly out of Kuala Lumpur. Apparently, Air Asia
took notice of this and laid out very strict guidelines for their employees regarding passengers belongings. 3 Cheers to Air Asia and their management staff.
It is timely that the Police take a serious view of crimes commited against tourist, other than pickpockets and hotel thefts, we also have problems of tourists having their bag snatched. We need to seriously study how we can curb this problem.
I would be surprised at the hight rate of crime by 'tourists' or non-residents in Malaysia and from what I had read recently, such crimes are not only tourist directed but also to Malaysians.
When trying to meet target arrivals, especially for the now extended Visit Malaysia Year, Malaysia appears to receive practically anybody into the country. These crimes serve as a "wake-up call" to authorities that more stringent methods at borders are urgently needed. Quality & not quantity tourists, Malaysia!
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