KOTA KINABALU – Four individuals, including one with a “Datuk” title, were arrested by the police on suspicion of being involved in fraudulent activities in connection with an oil and gas project in Kudat, said Sabah police commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun.
He said all suspects, aged 40 to 61, were arrested by a team from the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of the Sabah contingent police headquarters and Kota Kinabalu district police headquarters at a hotel here, about 4pm, on June 5.
“Acting on a public tip-off, police arrested four individuals said to be trying to offer the Kudat Oil and Gas Industrial project,” he said after the monthly assembly at the Sabah headquarters parade ground, here today.
Jauteh said further investigation found that all the suspects involved did not have the authority or access to the project.
“Their modus operandi is to offer the project and ask for advance money. Thus far no individual or contractor has been deceived.
“The investigation also found that these individuals acted as middlemen to get the project...but it (the project) is understood to not have reached the stage offered, and is still in the discussion process,” he added.
Jauteh said, the investigation also found that all the suspects are not from Sabah and have committed fraud in several states.
“Police also found previous reports against all the suspects involving cases of fraud. We are also investigating the title of one of the suspects who claimed to be a ‘Datuk’,” he said, adding that the investigation was carried out under Section 420/511 of the Penal Code. – Bernama, June 13, 2023
