Loan shark ring busted, 31 nabbed in nationwide raids

KUALA LUMPUR: An "Ah Long" syndicate operating a large illegal money-lending network across the peninsula was busted by police on Monday with the arrest of 31 people, including its kingpin.
The arrests of the suspects, comprising 27 men and four women, were made during simultaneous raids at various locations in Selangor, Johor, Penang, Kedah, Johor and Negri Sembilan.
In the special operation codenamed "Ops Vulture 3/17" mounted by commercial crimes police on Sunday and Monday, the syndicate's base was found to be in Johor, but the leader was held in Puchong.
The others, aged between 23 and 40, were the syndicate's debt collectors, supervisors, managers and other general workers.
Police seized about RM26,000 and several cars apart from cellphones, jewellery, branded watches, ATM cards, bank account passbooks, accounting books, cheque books and portable computers.
Two houses in Nilai, belonging to the syndicate members, were also sealed.
Police said the items seized were valued at over RM1.3 million, adding that the syndicate had been operating for about three years.
Federal commercial crimes investigations department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani today said the operation was launched after police conducted surveillance on the syndicate for more than three months.
He said the syndicate did not resort to physical violence during debt collection, but its enforcers were aggressive and high-handed, often using profanities to threaten defaulters and splashing red paint on their homes.
Although the actual number of victims involved is being verified, records recovered from the suspects showed at least 1,500 people had taken loans running into millions from the syndicate.
Acryl Sani said in the first three months of this year, the CCID had investigated 340 cases of illegal money-lending.
"The Ah Long's targeted victims are businessmen, the low and middle-income earners who are lured with easily approved loans.
"Such businesses thrive due to demand from the public," said Acryl Sani, adding that police will continue to conduct operations to eradicate such activities.
"But the responsibility does not solely lie with the authorities. If the public continue turning to loan sharks, then the issue will never be solved," he said.
"We believe with public awareness and cooperation, this issue can ultimately be addressed when people stop taking loans from the 'Ah Longs'."