Thieves move into higher leagues, residents urged greater caution

Locals hired by police assemble the pieces of stolen motorbike.

High walls, barbed wire, bigger locks, and even the presence of guards are not deterring thieves in Ho Chi Minh City, who have become more sophisticated in planning and executing their operations, police say.

They are urging residents to be on the alert for more skillful thieves and take extra precautions.

The number of robberies in 2008 increased three percent year on year to 2,000, only 700 of which were busted and 866 people penalized, city police figures reveal.

More than VND10 billion (US$573,900) was lost to motorbike robberies as the police could only manage to retrieve 820 out of 2,229 motorbikes reported stolen. Motorbikes topped the list of stolen items.

For the past several months, thieves have succeeded in stealing dozens of motorbikes from outside offices, stores, hotels and restaurants by making a commotion nearby to distract security guards.

City police official Trinh Kim Son said that at least one guard must be assigned to stay and keep an eye on the vehicles, no matter what happens.

Housebreaking has also turned more professional, police said, noting that burglars are spending several million dong on tools like strings, ladders and pincers of all types.

In the middle of last year, a motorbike and other valuables were robbed from a four-storey house on District 1’s Tran Dinh Xu Street despite the house’s high, barbed wired wall.

The robbers had climbed to a terrace nearby and moved to the house’s roof, police found out later.

They removed the ceiling ventilating fan to enter the house, got the keys to unlock the four gates on the ground floor and left with their loot.

In November, a resident in Phu Nhuan District’s Ward 7 lost three motorbikes. She locked the door from the inside but the housebreakers used pincers to prise it open. They were aided by the fact that the door had an opening that gave the pincers a grip.

The same trick was used last Wednesday in a house in Go Vap District to steal VND500 million($28,700) worth of cash and jewelry.

Son said some residents were wrongly focusing on using bigger locks. He said they should take other precautions as well, including ensuring that there were no slits or holes in doors that the thieves could use.

Reported by Dam Huy

Update from: http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=45364

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