House owner catches drunk burglar dozing off ‘on the job’

JEMPOL – A senior citizen was surprised to find an unknown man dozing off in the middle of his house in Taman Tanjung, Bahau here, yesterday morning.

Sin Kong Men, 66, initially thought the man was a friend of one of his children who stayed for the night but it was later found out that the man was a burglar who did not have time to escape with the stolen goods because he fell asleep due to being intoxicated.

"When I woke up at around 6am, I found a man lying on the floor of the house and next to him was a paper bag containing two knife blades, a screwdriver, two bottles of liquor and a Samsung tablet.

"I checked and realise that the items belonged to me.

“I suspect he fell asleep after drinking liquor stored in the glass cupboard in this house," he said when met by reporters at his residence on Tuesday.

He said there was also a black dog believed to be owned by the thief. The dog, he said, tried to wake the man up but failed.

"We all tried to wake him up but he was passed out.

“Not long after that, the police arrived and wake him up before taking him to the police station for further action,” he said.

Sin had lodged a police report on the matter.

Meanwhile, Jempol district police chief Superintendent Hoo Chang Hook when contacted confirmed that he had received a police report on the incident on Monday.

He said further investigation found that the man had climbed over the side fence of the house and entered the house through an unlocked door.

"While entering the house, the suspect is believed to have found the liquor cabinet and helped himself until up to the point that he was drunk and fell asleep.

“There is no CCTV footage at the scene.

"The total loss is approximately RM1,000. The 41-year-old man has been arrested for further investigation under Section 457 of the Penal Code.

"Further inspection revealed that the suspect has 15 drug-related past records, six criminal records including being wanted by the police," he said, adding that the man was remanded for four days starting Tuesday.