Brunei Direct, Bandar Seri Begawan, 6 July 2003

Cable thieves to get two lashes

By Malai FadleyRizal

Two local men and a permanent resident teenager will go to jail and receive strokes of the rattan after they pleaded guilty to stealing electrical cables which were meant for reinforcement works of a government project.

Ramli Hj Daud, aged 36, Ilmi Hj Ismail, aged 30, and a 16-year-old boy were jointly charged in the Magistrate's Court in the capital with stealing 11kilovolts underground cables measuring 6.86 metres in total belonging to the Electrical Services Department.

A second charge against the three defendants stated that they had committed mischief by causing wrongful damage to the cables.

Ramli was sent to prison for a total of nine months with two strokes of the rattan, while Ilmi will also serve a total of nine months in jail and get two strokes of caning.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Muhammed Faisal Pehin DP Hj Keiflie considered the young age of the teenager and sentenced him to a total of four months' imprisonment and ordered him to receive two strokes of a "lighter" rattan.

Shamshuddin Hj Kamaluddin, the Deputy Public Prosecutor, told the court that Ramli, who is a water taxi driver, used his boat to travel from his home at Kg Bolkiah B to pick up his two nephews living at Kg Bendahara Lama.

The three relatives decided to go to the substation next to the church at Jalan Dato Taib in the capital on June 25 in the morning.

Bringing a saw with them, they went to a jetty near the Bandar Fire Station and found high voltage underground cables coiled up on a drum.

They cut up the cable by taking turns sawing the cable, while another stood watch.

Three lengths of cables were obtained and carried to another substation near the Edinburgh Bridge where Ilmi and the 16-year-old boy waited for Ramli to fetch his boat.

While waiting for the boat, Ilmi and the 16-year-old boy were stopped by two officers on duty from the ESD who saw the three of them carrying the sawn off cables.

Later Ramli came with the boat and was stopped as well.

The officers then informed the police and the three defendants were arrested.

Brunei Direct, BSB, 9 July 2003

Local Man Jailed For Car Theft And Syabu

By Rol Ezam

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Magistrate's Court sentenced a 35-year-old Bruneian man to 45 months' and 3 weeks' imprisonment with 9 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to theft and drug charges.

Abdul Hamid bin Hj Jafar pleaded guilty to stealing four cars: two Nissan Pulsars, a Toyota Corolla and a Nissan Skyline car.

He pleaded guilty to committing mischief by causing wrongful damage to the four cars and displaying an altered licence plate on one of the Nissan Pulsars, said Pg Isa Pg Hj Aliuddin who stood in for the Public Prosecutor.

He also admitted to stealing an Aiwa Hi-Fi set, a 21' inch Hisense TV, a 14'INCH Akira TV, a make-up bag and two pieces of textiles in a flat. He had also broken a door's padlock, and stole two Maruyama grass-cutting machines and 11 pieces of textiles and 6 pieces of scarves.

He also pleaded guilty to consuming a class A controlled drugs, Syabu, and possessing a Robin water pump and an engine of a grass cutting machine, which he had stolen.

According to Pg Isa, the defendant has caused a total of $13,609.80 in damage to the four cars.

He said the defendant was caught by the CID from Berakas Police District led by ASP Yakub bin Ismail.

Some of the damage he had caused were painting the car windows, modifying the wiper, removing the rear lights for the licence plate, removing compartment door cover, removing carburettor, removing radio cassette and car battery, removing rear passenger seat as well as removing the motor oil cap and engine coolant hoses and spark plug cables, said Pg Isa. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin