Thieves Caught in Luxury Hotel Room in Bandar Sunway

Swift arrests

Police success: About 8kg of jewellery and an assortment of firearms recovered from suspects involved in the Poh Kong gem heist in Subang Parade on Saturday night. Standing behind the haul are, from left, Selangor CPO Datuk Ismail Omar, IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan and CID chief Datuk Christopher Wan.

SHAH ALAM: Nine hours. That was how fast the police cracked the Saturday night jewellery heist at the Subang Parade shopping mall.

Seven people were nabbed in raids in Subang Jaya and near the Thai border in connection with the crime at the Poh Kong goldsmith shop.

Six of them, including a woman, are Thai nationals while the other is a Malaysian who is on the police wanted list in Negri Sembilan and Selangor.

The police also recovered about 8kg of jewellery and a variety of firearms allegedly used during the robbery, in which two security guards were killed and a robber gunned down.

The woman and three men were picked up after policemen stormed their room at a luxury hotel in Bandar Sunway at 3.30am yesterday.

Two hours later, three men were nabbed at Rantau Panjang, near the Malaysia-Thai border.

To the lock-up: Two of the suspects being led away from the hotel yesterday.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said the gang had also been responsible for three previous robberies at Poh Kong jewellery shops in Klang, Cheras and Puchong, in which three security guards and a bystander were killed.

Musa described the gang as “ruthless and trigger-happy.”

“The gang had made off with an estimated RM3.7mil of loot since March last year.

“The police are investigating if they were involved in robberies in other states as well,” Musa told reporters at the Selangor police headquarters here yesterday.

The firearms seized were a Glock 26, a Sig Sauer 9mm, a .38, a Colt. 45 and a Remington, an AR-15 assault riffle and 278 bullets of various calibres.

A pump gun belonging to one of the guards was also recovered from their getaway car.

He said the detained Malaysian is wanted for alleged involvement in arms smuggling in Rahang as well as several theft cases in Selayang.

The foreigners, who are all related, are from central Thailand.

It is learnt that the police got their break at the crime scene, when they found a hotel key card on the dead accomplice.

While doing a body search on the dead robber, a call came in on his cellular phone.

Investigations led a police party, comprising the elite Special Operations Force and Selangor police, to the luxury hotel at 3.30am.

Following their arrests, the police put out an all-points bulletin for the remaining gang members and at about 5.30am, the getaway car was spotted at a roadblock in Salam, in Rantau Panjang district, Kelantan.

The robbers had deserted the car and were arrested just as they were about to board a bus for Thailand.

CID director Comm Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee and his deputy Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar coordinated the entire operation with the help of the respective state police chiefs.

Source : Star
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