KLUANG, July 13 — Two oil palm smallholders, who were furious after learning that their crop had been stolen, retaliated by setting fire to a lorry loaded with their palm fruit on Jalan Parit 5, Sungai Limau in Simpang Renggam near here yesterday.

The two men were then arrested to assist the police with investigations into the burned-out lorry, in addition to the four men who allegedly stole the palm oil fruits.

Kluang police chief Assistant Commissioner Bahrin Mohd Noh said prior to the incident, the plantation’s supervisor noticed at 8.30am that palm fruit had been cut from trees.

He said policemen from the Simpang Renggam station were immediately despatched to the plantation after being notified of the incident at 11am.

"Acting on information, the patrolling police team chanced upon four men unloading palm fruit from a lorry that was on fire in the plantation.

"Upon seeing the policemen, the four suspects fled.

"The policemen pursued them and managed to apprehend a suspect. Based on questioning, a Criminal Investigation Division (CID) team from the Kluang district police managed to arrest the remaining three suspects,” said Bahrin in a statement today.

Bahrin said all four suspects, in their 30s, were labourers from Simpang Renggam and Kluang.

He said three of the suspects had previous police records for criminal offences and narcotics.

"They later confessed to stealing the palm fruit from the Simpang Renggam plantation and a check on the lorry revealed that it belonged to a private company registered in Johor Baru.

"All four were also found positive for methamphetamine abuse during a drug screening, while the losses were estimated at RM300,” he said, adding that investigators also confiscated the partially burned lorry and the palm fruit as evidence.

In addition to the four suspects, Bahrin said the two smallholders, in their 40s and 50s, were also detained for setting the lorry on fire.

He said initial investigations revealed that the two men had done so because they were angry that their palm fruit had been stolen.

"The two smallholders admitted to being at the scene when the incident happened and they tested negative for drugs after a screening,” he said.

All six men have been remanded for four days until this Saturday and the case is being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft and Section 435 of the same Code for mischief by fire.