Wednesday June 11, 2008 MYT 3:17:04 PM

Villagers turn amateur cops

By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH

MUAR: Villagers in Kampung Parit Tunggul and Kampung Parit Penyengat in Sungai Balang here have turned volunteer guards after about 20 homes were broken into by thieves in the past several months.

A Parit Tunggul village committee member Ramlan Mohamad said they had to set up the unit because they knew the police had limited manpower to monitor the two villages.

Speaking to reporters in Kampung Parit Tunggul, he said orchards and plantations surrounded the villages, located along the Parit Jawa -- Batu Pahat road.

"Since most of the houses have no fences, thieves can enter the houses from the road or from the surrounding orchards.

Despite police reports having been lodged, thieves continued to enter the villages and break into homes, he said on Wednesday.

Manan Abdul, who operates a sundry shop in Kampung Parit Tunggul, said thieves had entered his shop three times and his house once since 2003.

He said the last incident was on May 21 when they broke the backdoor of his shop during the night and carted away cigarettes and some food items.

"We cannot take it anymore, so we decided to set up our own volunteer guard to patrol the villages.

"We take turns to patrol the villages from 1am to 5am, but we also hope the police would beef up their patrols." he added.