If you often drive up to Johor Bahru (JB) and park in a place for long stretches, you'll want to be more cautious about doing that.

Police in Malaysia recently uncovered several vehicle theft syndicates and arrested several of their members who have been stealing cars and motorcycles owned by people who leave them unattended for long hours — especially those who park them in JB and head to work in Singapore.

According to Malaysian newspaper The Star citing local police, a total of 17 arrests were made in the course of a two-month police operation in Iskandar Puteri, a district in JB.

Their modus operandi

At a press conference on Tuesday (Oct. 1), the officer in charge of the Iskandar Puteri district, Assistant Commissioner Dzulkhairi Mukhtar, explained these syndicates' modus operandi.

He said they would monitor the victims' daily movements to plan a suitable time to steal the vehicles, after which, these would then be stripped down and sold in parts.

17 arrested, 13 in active crime syndicates

The operation, which began in August, has recovered six cars, five motorcycles and one van.

The 17 individuals arrested were aged between 18 and 39, and are all currently under police investigation.

13 of them belonged to active crime syndicates committing vehicle theft, home break-ins and theft of electric cables. Other syndicate members, the police said, are still at large.

The remaining four individuals were arrested for separate motorcycle thefts and were not connected to any syndicate.

Number of reported car thefts dropped

Despite the arrests, ACP Dzulkahiri said that the number of reported car thefts is on a downward trend.

He was quoted saying:

"In 2018 we saw 109 cars and 293 motorcycles reported stolen, this year there are only 92 cars and 242 motorcycles reported stolen so far."

It is not clear if the reference to 2018 counts reports over the entire year, or simply from January to end-September last year, however.

Top photo via Value Park JB.