PORT DICKSON, Malaysia: An uncle and nephew team thought they had the perfect script to commit robberies.

They stole a Proton Waja similar to the one used by the police, fitted it with registration plates belonging to the men in blue and then waylaid their victims.

However, their crime spree came to a halt when alert police officers ran a routine check on the "patrol car".

District police chief Supt Mazlan Othman said officers on duty became suspicious when they saw an unfamiliar "policeman" driving a "patrol car" around the resort town recently.

"They stopped the Waja bearing the registration plate WMJ 8305 and confirmed that it belonged to the police. But my men became suspicious when the man could not produce his police ID," he said, adding that the car seized from the suspect was reported stolen in Batu Pahat, Johor, recently.

Supt Mazlan said preliminary investigations revealed that the man, who was in his 20s, and his uncle had committed several robberies in Johor and near here.

"He confessed that his uncle was his partner in crime," he said, adding that the suspect has been handed over to Johor police and that the uncle was expected to be arrested soon.

On a separate matter, Supt Mazlan said police crippled a syndicate involved in motorcycle thefts following the arrest of three Indonesians early yesterday morning.

"Policemen detained the three as they did not have valid travelling documents. Follow-up investigations found that they had stolen six motorcycles and were waiting for the speedboat to take the stolen vehicles across to a neighbouring country," he said.

He said police also recovered the machines, valued at RM24,000 ($9,883), hidden in a bush in Jalan Pantai, Port Dickson.