PENANG, March 9 (Bernama) -- Police are looking for 12 individuals to help investigations into 30 criminal cases involving housebreaking, robberies, snatch theft and theft covering four states.

Federal police CID chief Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said the 12 were believed to be linked to the cases which were reported in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang.

"All are locals and are aged between 20 and 40 years," he told reporters after a meeting of state CID chiefs, here today.

The assistance of three of them, M. Nathan, 31, Ngai Fook Seng, 28, and S. Elangeswaran, 33, is needed to resolve the Selangor cases while M. Gerbagaran, 29, Tan Chin Keong, 27, and Shahrul Nizam Azmi, 33, for the cases reported in Kuala Lumpur.

Police are also seeking the assistance of B. Aruvendran, 28, Hiew Ming Yeong, 33 and Ramlee Seman, 24, for the cases reported in Johor as well as A. Patchamuthu, 21, Mohmad Rizuwan Ramli, 34 and S. Suresvaran, 28 for the Penang cases.

Mohd Bakri urged members of the public who had information on the 12 to contact ASP A. Pamnaswaran at 012-4024024 in Penang, DSP Zaleha Hj. Mohd Jais at 013-3605599 (Selangor), DSP Mohammad Ismail M. Yusof at 016-9205000 ( Kuala Lumpur) or C/Insp Mohd Jamal Ishak 019-7259597 (Johor).

Asides this, Mohd Bakri said the national crime index saw a 3.64 per cent dip from December 2009 till January 2010 while comparison for January 2009 and Janaury this year witnessed a drop of 10.62 per cent.

He added that police were taking various measures towards realising the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) goal of bringing the index down by 20 per cent this year.

In January, he said, police had conducted operations on 6,923 places with 264,500 people being checked and 895 people arrested.

During the same period 183, 953 vehicles were checked leading to 832 vehicles - 659 motorcycles, 44 cars, a van, nine lorries and 119 other vehicles being confiscated, he added.