Yesterday morning, a senior citizen was surprised to find a stranger dozing off in his house in Taman Tanjung, Bahau.
Sin Kong Men, 66, initially thought the man was a friend of one of his children who stayed the night. But he later discovered that the man was an intoxicated burglar who fell asleep and did not manage to flee with the stolen goods.
“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,” Sin told reporters today.
“I checked and realized that the items belonged to me.
“I suspect he fell asleep after drinking liquor stored in the glass cupboard in this house.”
He added that a black dog – believed to be the thief’s – had tagged along to the attempted burglary. The dog, he said, tried to nudge the man awake but failed.
“We all tried to wake him up but he passed out,” he said.
“Not long after that, the police arrived and woke him up before taking him to the police station for further action.”
Sin filed a police report about the incident.
Meanwhile, Jempol district police chief Superintendent Hoo Chang Hook confirmed receiving a police report on the incident on Monday.
Further investigation revealed that the man had climbed over the side fence of the house and entered via an unlocked door.
“While entering the house, the suspect is believed to have found the liquor cabinet and helped himself up to the point that he was drunk and fell asleep,” Hoo said.
“There is no CCTV footage at the scene.”
The superintendent noted that the 41-year-old suspect has been charged with trespassing, which is punishable by up to five years in prison 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.
Sun suffered approximately RM1,000 (US$233.40) in financial losses.
