MIRI: It certainly does not pay to pretend to be what you are not.
In fact, you can run foul of the law if you do so with the intention to cheat, which was what happened to a 23-year-old here when the police had him arrested last Friday.
Apparently, the young man thought he could get away with passing himself off as a Customs officer.
According to Miri police chief ACP Lim Meng Seah, who confirmed the arrest, at 7.15pm on Sept 12, the suspect went to a grocery shop in Senadin, Kuala Baram, wearing what looked like a vest with the word ‘SAG’ on the back.
For all intent and purposes, that vest resembled those often worn by uniformed law enforcement officers whenever they are on their rounds of spot check.
Obviously, in this particular instance, the 38-year-old shop owner, the victim, fell for the ruse.
ACP Lim said the suspect proceeded to instruct the victim to close the shop as Customs enforcement teams were coming to conduct a check.
Behind the closed door, the suspect told the victim the spot check could still be evaded, ACP Lim said, adding: “The suspect then demanded to be paid RM1,500.”
Worried and apparently not wanting to be troubled by a spot check, the shop owner handed the cash over to the suspect.
Indeed, there was no spot check, but after some soul-searching, the victim decided to go to the police because he believed he may have been cheated.
Acting on the report, police on Friday night arrested the man, a local, in Permyjaya.
“The 23-year-old suspect was detained at 8.51pm on Friday by a team from the Miri Criminal Investigation Department (CID),” ACP Lim said, adding the offence is being investigated under Section 384 for extortion and Section 170 for impersonating a public servant.
“The suspect has been remanded for six days to facilitate police investigation on the case until Sept 27,” he said.
