Burglars dig tunnel to loot Malaysian finance firm
Burglars dig tunnel to loot Malaysian finance firm
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Burglars broke into the vault of a finance company and escaped with millions of dollars worth of valuables after digging a 25-meter long tunnel under the firm, officials and news reports said yesterday.
In what was described as Malaysia's most imaginative, daring and puzzling theft, the thieves emptied safe deposit boxes at Mayban Finance in Kuala Lumpur's suburbs during the weekend after burrowing under the firm for several days or perhaps weeks.
Police and officials of Malayan Banking Bhd., parent company of Mayban Finance, said Tuesday they could not immediately ascertain the value of goods carted away. "We honestly don't know," said spokesman Prakas Mukherjee.
Local newspapers, however, estimated the loss at between 10 and 30 million ringgit (US$8 million to $12 million) based on interviews carried out with confidential sources and depositors of valuables at the company.
"It's too early to estimate the total loss," said Author Edmonds, police chief for the Cheras suburb in Kuala Lumpur where the burglary occurred.
The theft, similar to the plot of a 1981 film called Loophole, was discovered on Monday, when the finance company reopened for business after three days holiday for the Moslem Idul Fitri festival.
Local dailies said the burglars dug a 25 meter tunnel from a road outside the firm to reach the vault and were believed to have spent several hours inside the strongroom as police found discarded food and water bottles.
"Considering the amount of effort involved, the tunneling must have taken at least a month. The whole thing was professionally done," the New Straits Times quoted a source as saying, adding that the burglars had evaded the alarm.
The thieves were reported to have emptied 640 safe deposit boxes, containing both local and foreign currencies, jewelry, share certificates, commemorative coins and stamps and other important documents like passports and property title deeds.
Depositors of valuables were still queuing up at the company yesterday to cite their estimated loss and seek compensation.
The Sun daily, however, quoted legal professionals as saying that the depositors may not be able to recover their loss as finance companies here usually excluded liability when keeping goods other than money.
Last year, burglars entered the vault of MBf Finance, another credit company, in Kuala Lumpur's suburbs and made away with 200,000 ringgit worth of valuables after using a blowtorch to cut down the wall of the strongroom. The thieves or goods have yet to be found.