Taiping police smash two robbery gangs

TAIPING: Police have succeeded in busting two gangs involved in a robbery, snatch theft, house burglary and vehicle battery theft cases with the arrest of six men, including two leaders, in three locations in Perak and Penang.
Taiping district police chief ACP Mohamad Taib said in the first arrest, police detained two men from the "Siam Ragu" gang and seized several equipments in a Proton Waja car at a house in Kampung Tepi Sungai, Tasek Gelugor in Penang at 12.50am on March 15.
"Following the arrest, police picked up a man at 11.30pm on April 13 here and another man in Taman Kamunting Perdana, Kamunting at 1.30am two days later," he told a press conference at the Taiping district police headquarters here yesterday.
Mohamad said investigations revealed that the group, led by its 40-year-old leader, was involved in armed robberies and targeted victims at home or office.
Meanwhile, he said police also detained two men, aged in their 20s and 30s, from "Naga" group at the car park of Pangsapuri Ria in Lebuh Kampung Benggali, Butterworth on April 15 for their alleged involvement in vehicle battery theft, house break-in and theft.
In GEORGE TOWN, Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said police thwarted a drug-processing syndicate with the arrest of eight individuals, aged between 19 and 41, in five locations in Penang on April 18.
He said police also seized 23.14kg of what was believed to be heroin, 65.32kg of white powder believed to be caffeine which was used to add with the drug and 2.3kg of white liquid believed to be a drug worth RM753,000 in total.
Also impounded were four cars, four motorcycles and jewellery from the suspects, he told a press conference here today.
In LAHAD DATU, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency foiled an attempt to smuggle in 108 bottles of alcoholic beverages from the southern Philippines after they detected a speedboat in the waters off Felda Sahabat here on Friday.
Lahad Datu MMEA deputy director (Operations) Maritime Lt Muhammad Zarif Mat Yunus said the agency's personnel on patrol duty found 96 bottles of Tanduay Rhum and 12 bottles of Red Horse Beer worth RM4,000 in total.
In SEREMBAN, a group of motorcyclists and their pillion riders, who were taking shelter under a bridge at Km 258 of the North-South Highway (northbound) near the Port Dickson exit today, had the shock of their lives when a Perodua Axia car rammed into 12 motorcycles.
Seremban district police chief ASP Thiew Hock Poh said initial investigations revealed that the incident occurred at 2pm when the driver of the car, a 23-year-old woman, had lost control over the vehicle.
One of the pillion riders was injured and was taken to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban for treatment, he said in a statement here today. — AFP