Last week, four houses in Mutiara Damansara were burgled while their owners were not at home. In most cases, we never really know how burglars broke into those houses, so we could do nothing more than warn other residents about these break-ins.
Fortunately, one of the house owners took the initiative to inform us about the circumstances surrounding the burglary of his house. Here is a summary of the key points :
- The burglary was committed by a team of at least 3 men, probably 4 men.
- They parked opposite the target house in a car to reconnoiter it.
- One burglar climbed over the fence wall to check for any occupants.
- The second burglar rang the door bell many times, to confirm that no one was at home.
- After they confirmed that there were no one in the house, the two other burglars climbed into the house compound to join the first one who was already inside.
- The three burglars broke into the house using a crowbar to break the hinge off a kitchen window.
- Once they broke into the house, they focused on stealing small, easy-to-liquidate items, like jewellery or cash. They didn’t attempt to steal any laptops or watches.
- They attempted to break into their safe but failed to open it in time.
- There was likely a 4th burglar in their getaway car outside, as the burglars inside knew when the owner arrived back home.
- They left by climbing over to the porch of neighbouring house, before climbing over their fence wall to get to their getaway car.
What Can We Do To Prevent Such Burglaries?
Based on the details revealed, here are some steps the guards and house owners can take to reduce the risks of such burglaries :
- Even in a guarded community, you should install an alarm system and a CCTV system.
- You should always turn on the alarm system when you leave your house.
- You should inform the guards and neighbours when you intend to be away from your home for an extended period of time, so they can pay more attention to your home.
- The guards should check parked cars with a torchlight during their patrols at night.
- The guards should take note of people waiting in their cars. This is not normal behaviour for visitors or residents.
- Beware if a stranger rings your doorbell. Do NOT open the door, as a burglar may already be inside your compound. Open a window (if it is grilled) and call out instead. Or call the guards to render assistance.
- Help your neighbours watch over their property as well. Report any suspicious activity you notice to the guards, so they can send a patrol to render assistance.
How Burglars Broke Into His House
Here is the house owner’s original post, for those who want to read more and get some context on this case. Again, we thank him for sharing this story with us.
On our compound, they were looking for an entry point. After a while, they worked on one of our small windows in the dry kitchen with a crowbar and finally managed to break the hinge and get in. Two of them went into the house while the other was at the back of the house. Presumably, they knew that our maid was in but was sleeping in her room. Hence, kept one person to keep an eye on her.
They were focus on looking for small jewelry items and cash as they did not touch 5 of our laptops and even some of the sports watches we had lying in plain site. They spent most of their time on our safe but failed to open it in time. At about 10.21pm, we came back and they seem to know it and started leaving immediately. Presumably there was another accomplice in the car to do the stake out and notified them accordingly. They wanted to come out thru the front door but we were back already, hence, they climbed into my neighbor’s house. My neighbor’s maid saw them and notify my neighbor. They calmly walked across my neighbor’s porch, climbed over the fence wall, get into their car and left. CCTV from guard house showed that they tried to use a card to exit but failed. However, managed to convince the guard to let them out.
In view of all this, we would like to share some of our thots and experience as we tend to be less cautious in view of the security that has been provided. We believe we all should do our part as well.
– If you have dogs, do let them out and circle your compound. It will always help.
– Turn on your external alarm when you go out.
– When the door bell rings (especially at night) and you are not informed by the guards that a visitor is on his way, be careful as the burglars could already be in your compound and attack you when you open your front door to check.
– The guards should shine torch lights into all parked cars especially those without a MUDORA sticker. In our case, the patrol bike passed by the burglar’s car at least 5 times but failed to notice that anyone was sitting inside.
– The guards should never allow anyone in or out with excuses of cards not working or cards are left at home. Their details must be obtained with more scrutiny.
– We need to work hard in stopping them to come into our area as it would be difficult to police them once they are in.
– Maybe the guards should escort the visitors to their designated houses. This may not be practical but its just a thot.
– Everyone should be informed officially whenever there is a change of guards as its a typical window for the culprits to exploit. They will enable all to be extra careful and support them at the learning stage.
– Everyone should be notified officially and immediately whenever a case has occurred for all to we aware. Apparently, there was another incident on the 1st of October but we don’t know the details. With these last two points, maybe a WhatsApp Chat Group would be helpful.