A man who allegedly stole more than 30 pairs of brand-name shoes over three months in several states of Malaysia was arrested on Wednesday morning.
At 5 am on March 27, while officers were patrolling the USJ14 region of Subang Jaya in Selangor, they noticed a man acting suspiciously and arrested him after finding some allegedly stolen shoes on him, the China Press reported.
A preliminary investigation suggested the man was responsible for more than 30 cases of shoe theft over three months in Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya and Bangsar of Kuala Lumpur. The households where the thefts took place said only brand-name shoes were taken, but no other valuables.
The arrested man also led police to two middlemen – a 52-year-old Indian man and a 55-year-old Indonesian man who was a second-hand shoe vendor who had a permanent residency in Malaysia, and police arrested both.
Each time the man stole shoes from households valued at 200 ringgit or more, making the estimated value of all the stolen footwear at more than 20,000 ringgit (US$4,906). However, he claimed he was selling them to the vendor for between 30 and 100 ringgit (US$7.40-$24.50).
All three men were detained at Subang Jaya district police headquarters for four days while police investigated the case.