Organised criminals reviving gangland activities

PETALING JAYA: Underworld gangs, which laid low for over three years following a massive police crackdown on organised crimes in 2013, are making a comeback and reviving gangland activities.
Activities such as extortion, drug dealing and turf wars were snipped in two rounds of nationwide operations under Ops Cantas initiated in 2013.
However, when ground operations of Ops Cantas slowed down last year, gang leaders who either fled the country or went into hiding started crawling out of the woodwork, reviving their shady and lucrative "enterprises" of drug dealing and extorting protection money.
In Selangor, the trend is a worrying concern for police as two murders linked to banned Indian underworld gangs were reported in just over a week into the new year.
Just hours before ushering 2018, residents of a housing estate in Sungai Pelek, Sepang, who have long been putting up with the escalating gangland activities in their area, were shaken when two notorious Indian gangs clashed at Taman Sri Sungai Pelek leading to the murder of a 46-year-old man who tried to break up the fight.
About 20 men broke down doors and damaged public property in pursuit of their outnumbered rivals in the incident at 8pm on Dec 31.
R. Vasagam, a father of five children who lived nearby, died of multiple slash wounds after being set upon when he tried stop the fight.
Revenge to settle an old score arising from trivial issues, such as staring matches and revving motorcycle engines almost a year ago, was believed to have led to the fight.
Sepang police arrested 18 suspects, including three siblings who are currently in police custody, for investigations.
On Tuesday, in Jeram, Kuala Selangor, a 27-year-old lorry driver who was having dinner with four friends died two hours after he was set upon by four parang-wielding men.
The victim's friends fled on seeing the attackers, who arrived in a car.
Selangor CID chief SAC Fadzil Ahmat said the suspects in the Sungei Pelek case are expected to be charged for a string of crimes including murder, causing hurt, rioting and possession of dangerous weapons.
Police are aware of the growing number of crime cases involving underworld gangs in the state, he said, adding that initiatives to counter the menace are in place.
"Apart from ongoing operations, other special tasks to counter underworld activities are in the works.
"Preventive laws will be used on those held if there is lack of evidence in charging them in court for their crimes.
"Last year, over 400 suspected members of underworld gangs were detained under Poca (Prevention of Law Act), almost twice as many we detained under the act in 2016," he told theSun.
Fadzil said there is a need to invoke preventive laws on these individuals as there is high probability of them returning to their old ways after being freed from remand.