KAPAR: It looks like nothing is sacred to thieves.

Nine statues from the Sri Bala Thandayuthapani temple in the town centre were carted off in the wee hours on Sunday.

The theft was a brazen one, considering the temple was located a mere 400m from a police station.

The statues of various goddesses were made from a mixture of five metals, including gold, silver and bronze. The statues were valued at RM80,000.

Temple chairman N. Raman said the theft was discovered by a priest about 6am.

The priest and other workers had closed the temple about 11pm on Saturday and went to bed about 2am.

He said they woke up about 6am the next day to prepare for morning prayers and found the statues missing.

There were 10 statues inside, but the biggest and heaviest one was left behind as the thieves probably could not take it out in time.

Raman said there were no signs of forced entry at any of the temple entrances.