Their mode of operation is similar. Break into a home through the window and terrorise the occupants at knifepoint and make a clean getaway with money and valuables.

In the latest terror attack on July 1, six men victimised a family at an affluent housing estate in Kampong Rimba, Gadong.

Appearing before the sleeping couple in the middle of the night, they escaped with $10,000 worth of cash, watches and jewellery.

“We were sleeping. When I opened my eyes I found six men around our bed calmly looking at us. I was too terrified to scream,” said the woman victim.

Three were masked indicating that they could be the masterminds who are in and around Brunei for some time and so they did not want to be recognized.

The other tree were not hooded, perhaps they were new arrivals. And all spoke Indonesian.

And they were apparently considerate.

When the husband suffered chest pains most

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probably because of excitement and extreme fear, a robber brought a glass of water urging him to drink.

After that, according to the victims, they continued to ransack the house looking for money and gold while they tied up the couple.

There had been a number of robberies in Brunei recently when the mode of entry was through the small toilet window. Victims too were tied up in the same fashion.

People here complain that Brunei, which had been crime free in the past, is now subjected to such ordeals lately and some blame the influx of Indonesians into the country.

“Before that, we seldom had this sort of frightening things happening. In West Malaysia where there had been a larger scale of Indonesian immigration previously, the same thing happened.

“Brunei too should take up the cue and restrict Indonesians from coming in on the present scale,” he commented.

But that may be too late as Brunei has allowed Indonesian maids to work here. A large number of men come in their wake looking for jobs.

Some of them could be involved in crime, it is speculated.