Name and shame for snatch thieves

Police today proposed curbing an epidemic of violent "snatch thefts" by shaming culprits who would be forced to sweep the streets and wear signs revealing their crime.

Violent thefts are rampant in Malaysia, typically carried out by pairs of criminals riding on motorbikes, but there has been a fresh uproar after the deaths of two pregnant women who were thrown to the ground while being robbed.

Mohamad Bakri Mohamad Zinin, criminal investigation department director, said culprits should do community service like sweeping the streets where they once preyed, while wearing signs declaring: "I am a snatch thief."

"We are proposing the idea to the public. Let them comment on it," he told AFP, adding that police would consider the response before implementing the new measures.

Bakri said conventional punishments were not successfully curbing the epidemic of snatch thefts.

Victims are usually women and the elderly, who are targeted as they go about their daily business and deaths and serious injuries are common in the attacks in which thieves sometimes use machetes and clubs.

- AFP