Police smash luxury car theft syndicate

KLANG: A luxury car theft syndicate specialising in stealing Honda CR-Vs was busted by federal police late on Tuesday with the arrest of four suspects and the recovery of six cars worth over RM1 million at Port Klang here.
The six stolen Honda Vtec CR-Vs were found loaded in three containers to be shipped out of the country via Westport here.
Sources told theSun that acting on intelligence, a police team from the federal police serious crimes division rounded up three freight forwarding agents aged between 29 and 34 before ordering them to open the containers that were stored at a warehouse at the port at about 12.30am.
All six vehicles found in the containers were just a few months old and were reported stolen between a day and two weeks ago in Petaling Jaya, Puchong and Subang Jaya.
Investigators also learnt that three of the cars were stolen in a single day on July 6.
Following the arrest of the suspects, the police team raided a workshop at Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur at 1pm on Tuesday where a 58-year-old man was held over the case.
Sources said the older suspect admitted that he was involved with the syndicate.
He told police that he was tasked in packing the stolen cars into the container on the instructions of the mastermind of the syndicate who is still at large.
All four men held in the bust are in police custody under a remand order and are being investigated for smuggling stolen cars out of the country.
It is learnt that police are on the hunt for remnants of the syndicate who are believed to have gone into hiding.
In KUALA LUMPUR, city police chief Comm Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim revealed that some four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles which were reported stolen or hijacked in Penang and Klang Valley, the past few moths, had been smuggled out by sea and were sold to Middle Eastern syndicates.
"Following an operation codenamed "Ops Lejang Hilux" by the city police CID team, we raided a premises in Bandar Kinrara here on July 12 where 20 4WD vehicles and a Mini Austin Morris were seized. The recovered vehicles were worth RM1.2 million," he told reporters today.
Further checks revealed that some of the 4WD vehicles had their chassis numbers altered and were thus not registered in the Road Transport Department's (RTD) system.
"Police also arrested five syndicate members aged between 41 and 63 in Bandar Kinrara and Sri Muda, Shah Alam on the same day of the operation," he added.
He said the suspects had various drug-related, vehicle theft and Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) records.
The suspects are being investigated under section 379 (a) of the Penal Code for vehicle theft and 413 of the same code for habitually dealing in stolen property.
On a separate case, Mazlan said police have identified the murder victim whose mutilated body was found packed in two travel bags by Sungai Gombak near Putra World Trade Centre on July 5.
"The victim is a Bangladeshi and police are now tracing a very important subject related to the case. We are looking for her Bangladeshi husband," he said.
He has been identified as Md Shahzada Saju, 29, and those with information on the case should contact Dang Wangi district CID chief DSP M. Gunalan at 019-3114418 or the investigations officer of the case ASP Faizal Abdullah at 012-4834439.
On the shots fired at a nightspot in Taman Maluri, Cheras here last Friday, Mazlan said police are looking for two businessmen to facilitate investigations.
He said certain clues obtained in the case pointed towards extortion as the cause of the incident.