Car thieves' escape caught on video

KOTA KINABALU -  In a dramatic bid to escape arrest, two suspected car thieves brazenly rammed into four vehicles including a police motorcycle.

The drama, which unfolded early yesterday morning at a popular jogging park was caught on video, showing the suspects in a Myvi, seemingly trapped between parked and stationary vehicles make an escape under the very noses of two policemen and members of the public.

The incident recorded on phones by members of the public out for a morning jog at the parking lot of Tun Fuad Stephens recreation park in Bukit Padang went viral yesterday.

City police chief assistant commissioner M Chandra said that the two policemen were on patrol when they spotted the suspects in the vehicle behaving suspiciously.

They approached the vehicle for inspection but the suspects reacted aggressively and blatantly refused to cooperate with the police, even challenging the cops to shoot them.

“The suspects tried to hide their faces when confronted and even shouted ‘tembaklah kalau berani’ at the police before reversing into the police motorcycle which was parked behind their car,” he said in a press conference here this morning.

The video, slightly longer than two minutes, showed the suspects maneuvering their vehicle to escape, ramming into several cars in the parking lot and the policemen’s motorcycle while passer-bys and the police, gun in-hand, had to get out of the way.

“Police had no choice but to fire four shots at the front and back tyres of the car to try and stop the suspects from escaping,” said Chandra adding that the suspects still managed to force their way out.

The suspects later abandoned the car near an international school about a kilometre away.

Police have identified one of the suspects as Samri Samsul, 28, who is wanted for other car break-in cases around the city and is out on bail pending trials of a break-in and narcotics cases.

Upon further investigation, police discovered the Myvi he was travelling in was reported stolen and found a meat cleaver, tools for breaking into cars and other paraphernalia.