Johor Bahru's Escalating Crimes (23/8/2006)

Years back, the whole nation protested furiously over the infamous labelling of Johor Bahru as a 'Cowboy Town' by the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Over the years, incidences of crime in the Johor Bahru city have been notoriously on the rise. The well-to-do prefers to make Singapore their place of residence but to us, the ordinary folks, what can we do as it seems that the police forces are already at their wits-end on how to deal with the escalating problems. This is a compilation of incidences reported in the local dailies which are just the tips of the iceberg. What about those unreported cases??

1. Clerk Paralysed In Snatch Theft Attack - The Star @ 23/8/2006



This poor girl was a victim of snatch thieves, dragged for about 5 metres when she clunged onto her handbag which was the target. The incident occured as she arrived at her workplace at 8.15 am (broad daylight!) at Taman Mount Austin (an established housing estate with industrial park - I'm surprised there isn't a single soul who heard her screaming, maybe they all scrambled into hiding!). As a result, she was paralysed from waist down.

#We have been advised to avoid resisting when confronted by snatch thieves. However in most instances when things are suddenly taken away from us, our spontaneous reaction is to tighten our grip instead of letting go. So how are we to avoid injury when under such circumstances?#

In an unrelated event, a guy and his father confronted a man believed to be responsible for robbing his cousin as the latter was walking from a bus stop to her home in Taman Puteri Wangsa at about 7.30 pm. Instead of apprehending the suspect, this guy was unfortunately slashed across the chest during the chase.

# A classic case of taking justice into own hand which however went awry. These guys certainly don't believe in the police force, isn't it? #

2. Gang In Kenari On Robbery Spree - The Star @ 23/8/2006



It was reported that this gang, known for using Kenari as mode of transport in their modus operandi struck twice in a span of 10 minutes in this infamous upmarket housing scheme, Taman Molek.

A housewife had her car's window smashed and handbag taken away from the passenger seat as she was about to leave her home at 7.05 am. Apparently she had locked herself in the car which was why these robbers broke the window.

10 minutes later, a Taiwanese woman who owns a tuition centre here lost her passport, mobile phone and some documents when her handbag was grabbed from her car as she was about to get into her vehicle.

# The housewife in the first case was lucky enough not to be slashed as the robbers were armed with parangs at that point of time. It seems that quite a number of snatch cases had apparently happened in the wee morning when the victims are not that alert. The moral of the story for both cases is also to avoid carrying handbag which might attract unwanted attention from these criminals#

3. Adolescent Thieves A Menace : Schoolboys Team Up With Youth To Burglarise Homes - NST @ 23/8/2006

Wow! 3 secondary school boys, aged 14 to 15 and another 21-years old accomplice were caught committing at least 11 burglaries in Masai (somewhere near to our Pasir Gudang port) using high-powered walkie-talkies over the past 3 months. They had used pepper spray on their victims and travelled in a Proton Satria to look out for their targets.

#Indeed a disturbing trend among our youngsters#

4. Penternak Dakwa 6 Lembu Disembelih, Dijual - Berita Harian @ 23/8/2006

This is interesting! A cow rearer found 6 of his cows were missing from his farm in Lima Kedai, Gelang Patah. From remains of the slayed cows, he managed to trace to the head of one of his cows lying at a stall in the Tampoi's market (How he recognised it? All cows look the same to me). 5 suspects were detained in association to this case.

#I supposed the police can never solve this case as I believe they do not possess record of cows in their database. What about DNA identification on cows?#

5. Hiding Your Laptop No Longer Safe - NST @ 23/8/2006

This piece of news is alarming but not sure whether had happened in Johor Bahru before. The police department announced that even if you hide your laptop in trunks or under the car seats, thieves are still able to pinpoint them using a special gadget. The problem is the "police have not been able to get hold of the gadget yet"

#I thought the police force is equipped with the top brains and the best available technology? This is indeed dissapointing!#